The ICREAs

ICREA Research Professors form a vibrant community of scientists and researchers in all areas of knowledge that contribute to the advancement of humankind by exploring, interpreting and questioning. Have a look and learn about their amazing discoveries and findings here:

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    María Ángeles Serrano
    Serrano, M. Ángeles
    Research Professor at
    Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
    Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
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    Research interests

    Complex systems -e.g. the human brain, the Internet, molecular networks in the cell, international trade, and many more- are ubiquitous and around us. All of them, regardless of their origin, talk a common language that we are starting to understand. A major challenge for a better comprehension of the relation between their structure and function, and so for the prediction of their evolution and adaptation capabilities, is the characterization of their multiscale nature in space and time. I am using netwoks to investigate the role of space in real complex systems, producing maps in a hidden geometry where distances measure the likelihood of interactions. Our focus is also on the impact of time flow, and on multilayer networks in which different types of interactions between a diversity of elements coexist. Our applications cover a wide variety of real systems, from biological to economic and sociotechnological systems, that we characterize using massive data.

    Key words

    Physics of Complex Systems, Complex Networks, Network Geometry, Data Science

    ORCID

    : 0000-0001-8779-5931

    RESEARCHER ID

    : A-4198-2013
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    Joshua Shepherd
    Shepherd, Joshua L.
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
    Humanities
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    Research interests

    Much of my research in the last five years has been devoted to my ERC Starting Grant. This work uses the methods of philosophy, and (where appropriate) cognitive science, and seeks to reinvigorate the conceptual foundations of agency, to map the phenomenology of agency onto the structure and function of action control capacities, and to understand how aspects of consciousness contribute to our capacities to select, initiate, and control different types of action.

    An important part of this research involves engagement with the sciences of the mind (e.g., psychology, sport psychology, cognitive and motor neuroscience) in order to understand the psychological constitution of agency, and the ways that sophisticated behavior is controlled. Recent work along this line includes papers on the experience of acting (in The Journal of Philosophy), the relationship between (unconscious) perception and central coordinating agency (in Philosophical Studies), mind wandering and cognitive control (in Neuroscience of Consciousness), the nature of flow (in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences), and relationships between propositional thought and sensorimotor processes in skilled action (in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research).

    My work also explores the conceptual foundations of agency. In my book The Shape of Agency I offer novel, interlinked accounts of control, intentional action, and skill. In more recent work, I have addressed the place of knowledge in intentional action (‘Knowledge, practical knowledge, and intentional action’), and the nature of moral skill (‘Practical structure and moral skill’).

    I am also interested in the moral significance of consciousness. My first book Consciousness and Moral Status develops an account of the moral value of phenomenal consciousness. In subsequent work, some of it in collaboration with bioethicists, I am exploring difficult moral issues surrounding the moral status of non-humans, and the ethics of research using cerebral organoids.

    Key words

    skilled action, consciousness, intelligent agency, moral status

    ORCID

    : 0000-0003-2008-649X
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    Gustavo Slafer
    Slafer Lago, Gustavo A.
    Research Professor at
    Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
    Life & Medical Sciences
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    Research interests

    My research is focused on Crop Physiology: a relatively novel branch of science linking more fundamental physiological knowledge with realistic crop-breeding and crop-management developments through a genuine translational research approach. In this context, I study the mechanisms underlying the responses of field crops to environmental and genetic factors at the crop level of organisation. The environmental factors include management practices (e.g. irrigation or fertilization) and less manageable environmental factors (e.g. radiation, photoperiod and temperature). Genetic factors include from diverse genotypes through specific populations to particular genes (NILs). I study in this context the physiology of yield; carbon and nitrogen relationships and crop developmental processes with the aim of identifying alternatives to traditional farming and breeding practises to enhance the efficiency of resource use.

    Key words

    Crop physiology, Cereals, Wheat, Barley, Maize, Nitrogen, Fertilization, Phenology, Photoperiod, Vernalization, Temperature

    ORCID

    : 0000-0002-1766-4247

    RESEARCHER ID

    : A-8694-2011
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    Solé Vicente, Ricard
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
    Life & Medical Sciences
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    Research interests

    One of my main research interests is understanding the origins of complexity in living and artificial systems, and how major transitions can be explained by means of statistical physics approaches. To this goal, my Lab develops both theoretical and experimental research, including complex networks, evolutionary unstable dynamics (RNA viruses and cancer) an ambitious program on synthetic biology. The later area includes an exploration of synthetic multicellular systems, biocomputation and synthetic swarm intelligence. Additionally, I have also created two research areas of my own, namely Liquid brains (developing a theory of cognitive networks beyond standard solid brains) and the concept of biosphere terraformation (developing synthetic biology motifs to engineer ecosystems facing future tipping points).

    Key words

    Systems biology, synthetic biology, biocomputation, complex adaptive systems
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    Martín Sombra
    Sombra, Martín
    Research Professor at
    Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
    Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
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    Research interests

    Polynomials appear in a wide variety of contexts in Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science. Polynomials in those situations are not random but come up with a certain structure which is important to exploit. I am interested in systems of structured polynomial equations and particularly in questions like: how many solutions does a given system have? How complicated those solutions can be? Can we predict where they will accumulate? Can we efficiently solve systems of polynomial equations? These problems have conduced me to study combinatorial objects like polytopes and fans, geometrical objects like curves and surfaces, and arithmetic objects like height of points and Diophantine equations. This gives a rich interplay between Complexity Theory, Combinatorics, Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory, leading to interesting results and stimulating research directions.

    Key words

    Algebraic & Diophantine geometry, Arakelov theory, incidence geometry, combinatorics, computer algebra, complexity of algorithms

    ORCID

    : 0000-0002-3400-4240

    RESEARCHER ID

    : B-5181-2019
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    Jordi Sort
    Sort Viñas, Jordi
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
    Engineering Sciences
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    Research interests

    Jordi Sort investigates the nanomechanical, magnetoelectric and nanomagnetic properties of innovative and advanced materials, including lithographed structures, thin films and bulk specimens. Among his most relevant achievements one can mention: the use of nanoindentation and selective ion irradiation to create magnetic structures embedded in non-magnetic matrices; the ductilization of metallic glasses by development of nanostructured morphologies; the growth of new types of coatings with enhanced mechanical, magnetic, corrosion-resistance and catalytic properties; the development of advanced biodegradable materials; the characterization of mesoporous materials and onion-type nanoparticles with interlayer magnetic interactions; or the observation of magnetoelectric and magneto-ionic effects in different kinds of heterostructures combining ferromagnetic, ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic layers. Further information at: https://jsort-icrea.uab.cat/.

    Key words

    nanomagnetism, nanomechanics, lithographed systems, nanocomposites, spintronics, nanotechnology

    ORCID

    : orcid.org/0000-0003-1213-3639

    RESEARCHER ID

    : F-6582-2014