The final stage of the Pre-University Competition, which began in February, took place on the afternoon of 19 April. On that day, fourteen students were shortlisted to present their work to an academic panel, of which five won the prize: a grant that covers the enrolment of their first year at UIC Barcelona next year. 

The five winning students this year are: Paula Luque, with a grant for Medicine; Gala Garcia, for Dentistry; Victor Cerdan, for Bioengineering; Ivet Domens, for Psychology, and Abril Jané, for Business Administration.

Paula Luque’s research work, entitled “Business Plan Let Me Help You”, is the design of an application whose objective is to improve the mental health of young people in schools. The app offers an anonymous service that has the help of expert specialist psychologists. This initiative leads to an improvement in the academic outcomes of young students.

Gala Garcia won the Dentistry grant with her proposal “Lums e ombres dera escole aranesa: 40 ans de luta” (Light and Shadow in Aranese Schools: 40 Years of Struggle). The student from the Aran Valley investigated the process of implantation and introduction of Aranese as a subject, and later as a working language in schools and institutes of the Occitan region.

The grant for Psychology was awarded to Ivet Domens, with the work “Socially Antisocial: research on the social relations of people with antisocial personality disorder”. The jury highly valued Domens’ analysis of antisocial personality disorder and how people who suffer from it are affected by their relationships.

Víctor Cerdán won the grant for Bioengineering for his study, entitled “Educating through the eye of technology: technological solutions to improve the daily life of the people with visual disability”, in which he carries out a series of studies in which inclusive technology is the central axis of all of them.

Finally, Abril Jané was awarded the Business Administration grant for the project “Am I capable of doubling the turnover of Bacus Events?” Jané performs a thorough analysis of the company Bacus Events, in order to evaluate its potential and see if there is the possibility of doubling its turnover.

The Pre-University Competition is an annual initiative of the University that rewards the excellence of the best research work of second-year baccalaureate students. This year, 192 students from different areas of knowledge have presented projects: arts, humanities and social sciences, science and technology.