On 30 March, Úrsula Imbernon, a student at the Faculty of Humanities at UIC Barcelona, received the Amics del País and Fundació Barcelonesa d'Amics del País mobility grant worth €4,200. This important mobility grant aims to promote research excellence in Catalonia and equal opportunities, and will allow the student to continue her time in Boston (USA) and complete her doctoral studies.

Her doctoral thesis explores the decision-making process involved in programming temporary exhibitions in museums and cultural institutions, and whilst in the USA, she is researching the methods used by different museums in Boston, as well as in Barcelona. She is also working as a visiting lecturer in some classes on the Master’s Degree in Arts Administration at Boston University Metropolitan College, and supports students looking for work placements in the art sector.

As Úrsula Imbernon explains, her project is unique in that it combines different areas of knowledge such as engineering, business administration and management, and cultural management in an interdisciplinary way. “An engineering method had never been applied to the humanities before, and even for some museum directors having a digital platform to help you programme exhibitions and predict results was too innovative”, explains the doctoral student.

Imbernon has implemented the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) method, used in the field of engineering, in order to optimise decision-making and improve the effectiveness of exhibition programming. She explains how “the proposal is pioneering and innovative and I think the fact of achieving this interdisciplinarity in the application of the method makes it even more attractive”.

 The researcher completed the Master's degree in Cultural Management at UIC Barcelona in 2017 and then began her doctoral studies under the supervision of lecturers Miquel Bastons and Maria de Mar Casanovas. Assisted by Jaume Armengou, Marta Crispí and Òscar Carbó, she started a research project with the La Caixa Foundation as a case study for her doctoral thesis and in 2019, she received the FINO AGAUR grant to carry out her doctoral studies at Boston University. This new grant will help her finance her second stay in Boston, from from February to October 2022.

 The grant was awarded on 30 March in the Saló de Cent at Barcelona City Council. Imbernon, who has been in the USA since the beginning of the year, asked lecturer Marta Crispí, her mentor and former teacher from the Master's Degree in Cultural Management, to collect the award on her behalf.