Scientific Commission

The UOC's Research and PhD Scientific Commission is an independent body, created in 2002, to assess the academic activities at the University, to control the quality of the PhD programme and to advise the Rector on research strategy. The Commission meets once a year for 2 days in Barcelona in order to evaluate the university's research groups and examine the progress of the PhD programme.

The Commission is made up of renowned scientists and professors from a number of disciplines and countries. All of its members are Full Professors at prestigious universalities from around Europe and the United States, apart from Dr Vinton Cerf, one of the pioneers of the internet. Its members are designated by the Rector following their nomination by the Director of the Scientific Commission. Currently, the Commission is made up of the following fifteen members:

Manuel Castells, Research Professor at the UOC and Chair of the Scientific Commission.

Martin Carnoy, Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University.

Cecilia Castaño, Professor of Applied Economics at the Complutense University, Madrid.

Vinton G. Cerf, Vice-president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google.

Betty Collis, Emeritus Professor of Networked Learning and Professor of Technology for Strategy, Learning and Change at Twente University, Holland.

William Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, Professor of Internet Studies and Fellow of Balliol College at the University of Oxford.

Jerry Feldman, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

Miguel Angel Lagunas, Professor of Engineering in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia's Telecommunications Faculty and Director of CTTC, Catalonia's Telecommunication Technology Centre.

Vicente López, Professor of Communications at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University, Director of the Barcelona Media Centre for Innovation and Director of the Telefónica UPF Chair in Multimedia Production.

Robin Mansell, Dixons Chair in New Media and the Internet at the London School of Economics and President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).

Guido Martinotti, Professor of Urban Sociology and Coordinator of the Local Communities and Tourism Sciences course at the University of Milan-Bicocca.

William J. Mitchell, Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences at MIT and Director of the Media Lab's Smart Cities research group and Chair of the National Academies Committee on Information Technology and Creativity.

Vicenç Navarro, Professor of Political and Social Sciences at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University, and Professor of Health Policy at John Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Emilio Ontiveros, Professor of Economics at Madrid's Autonomous University and Director of 'Analistas Financieros Internacionales'.

Xavier Vives, Professor of Economics and Finance at IESE Business School and Research Professor at ICREA-UPF.