In doing so, Dr Lluis i Ginovart received the highest academic recognition at university level, having previously achieved academic, professional, teaching and research honours. Dr Josep Lluis i Ginovart is the first person from the Catalan Schools of Architecture to be appointed full professor in the field of Architectural Heritage Intervention.

“Preparing the project for the Architectural Heritage Intervention Chair has been, without a doubt, one of the most significant moments of my life. On 9 November, it will be 59 years, 4 months and 4 days since I was born in Tortosa, 35 years and 5 days since I finished my degree in architecture and 14 years, 11 months and 25 days since I earned my PhD. Getting to where I am has been no easy task, as I don’t come from the academic world. Nor am I a high-profile architect in my professional field, in which I would define myself as more of a rural architect”, declared Dr Lluis i Ginovart.

Josep Lluis i Ginovart earned a degree in Architecture from the ETSAB at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 1982 and a PhD in Architecture from the ESARQ at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in 2002. He is currently director of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, a researcher and director of the Architectural Heritage Research Group (PATRIARQ). Prior to his role at UIC Barcelona, Josep Lluis i Ginovart was director of the Department of Architecture at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).

His career as a scientist is largely the result of transferring the professional experience (1982-2016) he accrued at architecture studios in Barcelona and Tortosa, in the field of architectural heritage restoration and projects, to the university world. His teaching career began at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (2001-2005) and continued at the Higher Technical School of Architecture at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

He has also published indexed articles in a number of journals, is part of the editorial board for the International Journal of Heritage Architecture and is a reviewer for Hispania Sacra, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Construction History and Informes de la Construcción. Lluis i Ginovart is a member of several international scientific committees, has carried out thirteen technology transfer projects with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili Foundation, has taken part in over fifty research projects and has worked with the country's leading institutions. Thanks to his work with religious architectural heritage, he was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.