Laia Andreu research focuses on the study of the interactions between forests and the environment and on reconstructing past climate conditions using tree rings and isotopic geochemistry. Warming temperatures associated with global climate change are having dramatic and profound impacts on forests, and her research centers on assessing these changes across several key regions of the planet. She is currently conducting research in boreal, tropical, Central Asian and Mediterranean regions, which are ‘hot spots’ of current climate and environmental change.

Xavier Costa-Pérez research focuses on the digital transformation of society (DX) driven by the interplay of mobile networks and AI. In contrast to previous mobile network generations, a key new aspect for the industry is the need to expand the mobile ecosystem to incorporate industry verticals like automotive, manufacturing, smart-grids and health. While early research and field trial results are promising, the AI-driven automation of mobile networks for a cost-efficient society digitalization (DX) is still at its infancy and will require a huge research effort to deliver on the DX promises in the next decades.

Alfonso is interested in understanding how an egg transforms itself into an organism. To address this question, his research draws techniques and inspiration from embryology, genetics and engineering. Over the last few years, using Embryonic Stem Cells he has developed ‘gastruloids’,  a novel culture system that allows modelling the early stages of mammalian development. His group uses gastruloids to understand normal and abnormal embryonic development. He is a member of EMBO and, in 2012 received the Waddington medal for his contributions to british developmental biology. Currently he holds an ERC Advanced Investigator grant to study the emergence of the mammalian body plan.

Diana applies machine learning and cutting-edge technology to analyse key cultural transformation processes within a transnational and cultural analytics approach. She is fascinated by the circulation of cultural goods and the study of how historical networks offer new insights into patterns of cultural change. Within a sociological and digital humanities perspective, her research pushes forward global literary and cultural history to analyse multiple connections that go beyond intercultural entanglements in Europe or the Western world. Her research is grounded in a decentred and empirical approach, a big data turn, and a focus on agents and social network research to abandon the focus on innovative centres and imitative peripheries, when studying large accounts of literary and translation processes between spaces and over time. She is the PI of an ERC StG (2018-2023).