For the last twelve years “Times Higher Education” (THE) has published its ranking of the best universities in the world. In the latest edition, the URV is between position 401 and 500 out of the 800 universities around the world that have been included in the ranking. The URV has been ranked in sixth position out of 25 Spanish universities, a position it shares with the Polytechnic of Catalonia, the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Valencia

Academics, managers and heads of doctoral training programmes from ten Latin American countries gathered at the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia) to examine alternative ways of enhancing the supervision of doctoral theses and sharing institutional experiences. The team coordinating the seminar was made up of professors from the URV who have been organizing workshops on doctoral supervision since 2012

In its general assembly on 7 September in Madrid, the CRUE agreed to implement universities measures to help refugees arriving in the country, in particular refugee students and teachers

This investigation was conducted as part of the PREDIMED study which was designed to examine the impact of consuming a Mediterranean-style diet on prevention of cardiovascular disease. A total of 1868 men and women between 55 and 80 years of age were followed for a median of 3 years during which time dietary analyses were conducted and clinical assessments evaluated

The student Sergi Canals will be embarking on two- year stay at the University of Californias thanks to the Balsells-Generalitat scholarship. For the first time, this programme is providing funding to cover the cost of registration fees and living expenses so that students can study the Master’s programme in Viticulture and Oenology at UC Davis, one of the 10 campuses in the University of California, which is considered one of the most important public university systems in the world

On 28 July the Catalan Government awarded this medal to 16 individuals and 3 institutions. The medal recognises the scientific and technological work of people and entities that have made a major contribution to the development of science and technology in Catalonia

This summer three Study Abroad programmes will take place in the month of July. North-American professors will carry out a summer course in Spanish at the Catalunya campus, and students from the Northeastern University of Boston will do a course in Chemical Engineering at the CTTI and visit locally-based chemical companies. On 20 July students from the University of Cairo and the British University of Egypt began courses in Engineering and Chemical Engineering

The collaboration between the groups of Prof. Pau Ballester at ICIQ and Prof. Eduard Llobet at URV has allowed the development of a sensor highly selective for benzene in air with a lower limit of detection to the extent permitted by law. The work has been published in Advanced Functional Materials and selected for the back cover.

For the first time, these two Brazilian universities have participated in a conference with the URV to establish future cooperation. The Chilean University of Concepción, which already has ties to the URV, is also interested in expanding the cooperation. The visit took place on 6 July 2015 as part of the Hispano-Brazilian energy sustainability conference at the URV.

Once again the URV has taken top spot in Spain regarding scientific leadership with excellence, according to a report by the Knowledge and Development Foundation which analyses Spanish universities and their contribution to economic and social development. The URV heads this indicator in both overall terms and in the specific areas of Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, Agricultural Science, Biology and Computer Sciences

The Catalan Government gives out 30 of these awards every year to reward research excellence in the Catalan university system. To receive the award, individuals must have spent at least five years primarily engaged in research activities at a Catalan public university. Marsal is head of the Nanoelectronic and Photonic Systems research group (NePhoS) at the URV’s Department Of Electronic, Electrical and Automatic Engineering

Students and teachers from the third year of Social Education attended the event hold on the 24th and 25th of March in the Faculty of Education and Psychology.