On 8 June, UIC Barcelona hosted the sixth edition of the Exea Impact Grant in Teaching Quality and Innovation 2026, formerly known as the Puig Grant, which recognises innovative and transformative projects led by the University’s lecturers and researchers. This year, the winning project was “Transformation of university teaching through artificial intelligence: an integrated multidisciplinary project across faculties”, carried out by a team from the Faculties of Law, Economic and Social Sciences, Humanities and Communication Sciences.
Dr Marc Simón, lecturer in the Faculty of Law and lead of the winning project, thanked all those involved: “The idea emerged from the Observatory on Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies (OIANT), but we quickly saw its potential when we expanded it across faculties”.
The director of the University’s Teaching Quality and Innovation Classroom, Dr Isabel Villanueva, highlighted the project’s “cross-disciplinary nature”: “The panel recognised its replicability across different fields of knowledge, its impact on teaching in various degree programmes, and its alignment with the strategic priorities of UIC Barcelona”.
The event was attended by Mr Xavier Puig Alsina, president of The Puig Family Foundation, who highlighted the challenges of digitalisation and expressed his appreciation for the collaboration with UIC Barcelona. Also present was Ms Mària Vallés, the Foundation’s director. The Exea Impact Grant, formerly the Puig Grant, has been awarded since 2016 to support professionals at the University in developing innovative projects that enhance teaching and educational quality.
Conclusions from the 2024 awarded projects
During the event, the conclusions of the projects awarded in the previous call were presented. One of these was UIC Humanitats+, which introduced teaching methodologies to develop digital competences among students on the Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities. Dr Marta Crispí, who led the project, highlighted the improvement in students’ ability to create content with “rigour, quality and creativity”.
The second project awarded in 2024 was led by Professor Víctor Echarri and Dr Ricardo Gómez-Val from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture. The project focuses on the reuse of wind turbine blades. Two years on, the architects presented practical applications made possible by the grant, including the Silencor initiative, which proposes placing the blades along motorway verges to reduce noise pollution in an attractive and innovative way.
The event was chaired by the vice-rector for Planning, Quality and Strategic Development at UIC Barcelona, Dr Cristina Monforte, who emphasised that the true purpose of the grant is “to place professionals at the service of society so they can help to transform the world”. In this sixth edition, 11 projects were submitted, involving 51 lecturers from the University.
