The event was presided over by UIC rector Dr Xavier Gil, Dr Nuria Casals, director of the Doctoral School, and Dr Vincenç Sarrablo, chair of the Doctorate in Architecture Academic Committee, who delivered the lecture. The newly minted PhD Sílvia Recoder offered moving remarks on behalf of the recently invested doctors.

Ten new PhDs were awarded the traditional doctoral cap at the event. Additionally, the rector awarded the following doctoral awards: in the Human, Social and Legal Sciences, to Dr Covadonga Ballesteros Panizo; in the Humanities, to Dr Andrea Rodríguez Prat; in Health Research and the doctoral programme in Physiotherapy, to Dr Jordi Real Gatius; and in Dentistry, to Dr Cristina Vallès Vegas.

In his closing remarks, Dr Gil stressed to the new doctors that their research “allows them to contribute, through their discoveries, to the improvement of society in a changing and uncertain world that needs knowledge as a guarantee of progress and freedom”. He encouraged them to continue and, also, to keep “writing for humanity”, exhorting them to “research and seek the truth to serve the greater good”. “At UIC Barcelona,” he said, “research is more than just the object of study. It is an attitude requiring rigor and a willingness to serve.”

This academic year, a total of 27 doctoral theses will be read.