As of 1 September, Dr Cristina Monforte is the new head of the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, having taken over the post from Dr Jordi Villà. Resuming the same line of work initiated by her predecessor, the new vice-rector will continue to foster quality research at UIC Barcelona, in constant pursuit of excellence.

Dr Monforte has also outlined the vice-rectorate’s main objectives, which is to design strategies aimed at supporting and promoting the work carried out by UIC Barcelona researchers, as well as promote knowledge transfer and the impact the research has on society.

The new vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer graduated in Nursing from Ramon Llull University and holds a PhD in Health Research from UIC Barcelona. She has more than twelve years of clinical experience as a nurse and since 1995 has been the director of the Department of Nursing at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Since 2018, she has combined this position with that of president of the National Conference of Nursing Deans.

In terms of research, Monforte is co-director of the WeCare Chair, from which she leads different lines of work focused on caring for people approaching the end of life. As an expert in this field, the new vice-rector is also responsible for the international working group Wish To Hasten Death (WTHD) in Patients with Life-threatening Illnesses: A clinical issue, made up of twenty-six researchers from fifteen different countries and backed by the European Association for Palliative Care. As a researcher, Dr Monforte has also worked on several competitive projects in Spain, some of which she has led, and is the author of around fifty scientific publications indexed as Journal Citation Reports (JCR).