Within the framework of the Government of Catalonia's Industrial Doctorates Plan
From now until 2021, six UOC students will develop research projects at Catalan companies under the supervision of University professors. These projects will then form the subject of their respective doctoral theses, which will be carried out within the framework of the Industrial Doctorates Plan, an initiative launched by the Government of Catalonia to boost Catalan industry's competitiveness and internationalization, improve the tools for attracting talent produced by the country, and give future doctoral degree holders the means to carry out RDI projects within a company.
Doctoral student Sachin Tumkur Nataraj will carry out the project entitled Applications of Data Analytics and Metaheuristic Algorithms to Optimize Real-Life Logistics and Transportation Activities at Rhenus Logistics SAU, with the goal of optimizing logistics and transport in dynamic environments. His tutor will be Daniel Riera, a professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications and researcher at the Internet Computing & Systems Optimization (ICSO) research group.
Doctoral student Eva Pereira will work on designing an e-learning model for 3&Punt Solucions Informàtiques, s.l., in the research project entitled Cap a un model de disseny instruccional per a l’adquisició de les competències en contextos de desenvolupament professional (Toward an instructional design model for skill acquisition in professional development contexts). The project will be supervised by Montse Guitert, a professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences and principal investigator at the research group in Education and ICT (EDUL@B), and Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli, a Ramón y Cajal researcher and professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences.
Doctoral student Sílvia Herrera will implement an ophthalmological teleconsultation system at the Institut de Microcirurgia Ocular DOS, s.l., tutored by Eulàlia Hernández and Modesta Pousada, both professors at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences and researchers at the Psychology, Health & the Net (PSiNET) research group. The project is entitled Implementación de un sistema de aproximación diagnóstica oftalmológica a través de teleconsulta (Implementation of an ophthalmological diagnosis system through teleconsultation).
Pablo Lara, professor at the Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and researcher in the Learning, Media and Entertainment (GAME) group, will supervise two students’ doctoral theses: Francesc Font (who will be co-supervised by Enric Serradell, principal investigator in the Innovative Tools for E-learning (GO2SIM) research group) and Alessandro Manetti (under the co-supervision of Jordi Sánchez, principal investigator in the GAME research group). Francesc Font will carry out a research project with the title Estudi i anàlisi dels factors clau d’èxit d’emprenedoria en estadis ‘early stage’ (Study and analysis of key entrepreneurial success factors in early-stage start-ups) at Carethy e-Commerce, s.l. The end result will be a business start-up simulator which, through the use of key questions, would enable entrepreneurs to identify their business projects' hazards and weaknesses. Alessandro Manetti, for his part, will create a tool for mapping future macrotrends in the design field. His project is entitled Una propuesta de herramienta para el análisis y la planificación estratégica de innovación basada en el estudio de macrotendencias y en metodologías de diseño (A proposed tool for analysis and strategic innovation planning based on the study of macrotrends and design methodologies), and will be undertaken with the Istituto Europeo di Design de Barcelona, s.l.
Lastly, Carles Bonet will study the potential of serious games to influence how kidney patients perceive, learn about and live with their disease. The research is entitled Estudi de la gamificació i dels beneficis d’un ‘serious game’ per a ‘e-Health’ (Study of gamification and the benefits of a serious game for e-health), and will be carried out at the Fundació Taleia – ViOD Game Studio under the supervision of Daniel Aranda, a professor at the Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and researcher at GAME.
Since the program’s launch in 2012, the UOC has been granted 21 industrial doctorates – one in 2013, and between three and four in the various calls organized between 2014 and 2017. With six industrial doctorates obtained in this call, the University has surpassed the results of previous years and reaffirms its commitment to transferring its technology and knowledge to the production sector, thereby strengthening ties with the business world.