23/09/2014

Josep Clotet: New President of Catalan Society of Biology

Dr. Josep Clotet, the Director of the UIC's Department of Basic Sciences and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, was elected President of the Catalan Society of Biology (SCB), an affiliate of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC). He will take over the presidency from Dr. Lluís Tort, the Vice Rector for Strategic Projects and Planning at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Clotet assumes the presidency after being the Secretary General of the SCB since 2007. His aim, he said, was "to continue working to position the Society as a reference for biology research in Catalonia". The event took place at the headquarters of the Institute for Catalan Studies.

The Catalan Society of Biology was founded in 1912 and was the first affiliate of the Institute for Catalan Studies. Its first president was Dr. August Pi i Sunyer. The Society's activities were interrupted in 1938, but resumed clandestinely in 1954. Finally, the Society went public again in 1962. Since then, the number of members has increased and now amounts to 1,400. The SCB currently organizes over a hundred activities a year aimed at the scientific community, students, teachers and the general public.

It also publishes the journals Què Cal Saber, Treballs and Omnis cellula. The SCB is organized in twenty-two thematic sections and five regional sections and is run by a Management Council elected by the assembly of members and now chaired by Dr. Josep Clotet. The SCB is the oldest scientific society in Catalonia. It is also the most active society and the one with the most members.

Clotet said, “The SCB's objectives are to bring together life science experts and enthusiasts in Catalonia to allow for the exchange of ideas and help disseminate the research done by the scientific community (including the research done outside Catalonia) with the aim of making society in general aware of it. The SCB aims to be a reference for biology research in Catalonia.”