Dr. Josep A. Planell Estany Josep A. Planell Estany (born Barcelona, 1951) graduated in Physics from the University of Barcelona in 1975 and earned his doctorate in Materials Science from Queen Mary, University of London in 1983. Since 1992 he has been full professor in the Materials Science and Metallurgy department of the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). . Since its establishment, in December 2005, he has been the Director of the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). On April 3, 2013 has taken office as president of the university.

Chair in Communication, doctor in Social Sciences and lecturer in Communication Theory on the Audiovisual Communication degree course, UOC. She has been president of the university since 13 December 2005 to March 2013.

Industrial engineer and agricultural expert, he has been full professor of Automatic Control at Barcelona’s College of Industrial Engineers since 1968, and was its director between 1969 and 1972. He was president of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Polytechnic University of Catalonia, UPC) from 1972 to 1994, with a break between 1976 and 1978 when he was named Director General of Universities and Research, and then Director General of Scientific Policy. In 1995, he was a founder of the UOC and appointed president, a position he held until 2005.