Our response to COVID-19

In the words of Marta Aymerich, the UOC's Vice President for Strategic Planning and Research, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of science, which must help us face the challenges of the future. Furthermore, we must educate the public in the culture of scientific research, as society's involvement in research is essential.

When the pandemic took hold back in March, a number of measures were immediately put in place by the Research and Innovation department to increase the UOC's participation in COVID-19 research proposals and projects, to meet the needs of existing projects, and to ensure they could continue with their progress affected as little as possible.

The department immediately publicized the various COVID-19-related funding opportunities as much as possible, working with the research teams to help them draw up proposals. To do so, all calls for applications were monitored on an ongoing basis, research and innovation staff were kept informed at all times, and special newsletters relating specifically to COVID-19-related calls for applications were published. We also worked throughout the year helping to prepare numerous proposals in response to COVID-19-related funding calls. As to those projects that were already under way, it is worth noting that, due to the impact of the pandemic, these have had to be rescheduled in order to adapt to the new situation. After analysing the situation, we asked the various funding agencies and bodies for appropriate changes, extensions, budget adaptations, or whatever else was required in each case.