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Excited State Quantum Chemistry Research Group - QCEXVAL

The main objective of the QCEXVAL group is to determine, with high precision, chemical mechanisms derived from the interaction between visible-UV radiation and relevant molecular systems in biology, medicine, nanotechnology and the environment, thus establishing the basis for predicting innovative electronic properties and proposing new molecules for their applied use in these fields. To this end, the tools of theoretical and computational chemistry and computationally powerful computer farms are used. Furthermore, we contribute to the development of new methodologies and computational procedures to solve highly complex problems.

Research Group on Cenozoic Vertebrate Palaeontology - GI-PVC

The research activity of the GI-PVC (Research Group on Cenozoic Vertebrate Palaeontology) focuses on the study of seven main lines of research: 

  • Cenozoic Macrovertebrates (Baetic Basins and Iberian Cordillera). 
  • Study of the Mio-Pliocene transit in continental facies in the Valencian Community. 
  • Study of the Lower Miocene and Middle Miocene faunas of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula.
  • Study of the Tertiary and Quaternary faunas of Ecuador. 
  • Isotopic analysis of fossil remains of micromammals. 
  • Application of GIS tools (Geographic Information Systems - spatial analysis) in palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction based on fossil remains of microvertebrates. 
  • Combined application of GIS (Geographic Information Systems - spatial analysis) and Image Analysis tools in the study of shape in Palaeontology.​

The object of study of the seven aforementioned lines of research are the remains of fossil vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, amphibians) from the Cenozoic of Europe, and especially from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as from the same period in the central and western regions of Ecuador. In both geographical contexts, the aim is to approach the detailed palaeontological study of this type of remains from the different sub-disciplines of palaeontology (taphonomy, systematics, biostratigraphy, biogeography, palaeoecology, study of shape, etc.). 

The main areas of study are the Tertiary and Quaternary basins of the Iberian and Baetic Domains in the Iberian Peninsula, and the areas with Eocene-Quaternary deposits in central and western Ecuador. The Iberian Peninsula is a region where a large number of palaeontological studies on Cenozoic vertebrate faunas have been carried out. Thus, since the middle of the last century, a large number of researchers from Europe and other latitudes have selected the Iberian basins as the preferred place to study this type of fossils. The magnificent exposition of the outcrops and the large palaeontological record found contributed to consider this area as the main source of palaeontological information on Cenozoic vertebrates in Europe. As a result of this work, the Spanish School of Vertebrate Palaeontologists was created, which over the years has become the largest and most powerful in our continent.

Our efforts are aimed at completing the large number of works in Vertebrate Palaeontology already existing in these basins, and especially at complementing the scarce works that have been carried out in the East of the Peninsula and which, as our latest works show, contain very relevant information that contrasts with the results from other areas of the Peninsula and the rest of Europe. Our results allow us to verify significant differences in the palaeontological record of Cenozoic vertebrates, as well as the discovery of new events of palaeoenvironmental changes hitherto unrecorded in other study areas.

In addition to deepening studies that complement existing information from other areas, our team is developing its research work on other fronts in order to create new approaches to the knowledge of the palaeoenvironmental conditions of the most recent past (Pleistocene-Holocene) and their relationship with the processes of climate change that have occurred in this time span. On the other hand, although closely related to this last point, we are developing new spatial analysis applications to handle environmental-climatic and biogeographical information that will allow us to tackle the process of paleoclimatic reconstruction of the recent past. From these new applications we analyse, for example, the extinction context of the last Neanderthal groups based on the Pleistocene microvertebrate record.

 

Research Group on Climate Change, Meteorological Hazards and Inputs to the Mediterranean Hydrological System - CLIMAMET

The Analysis Group on Climate Change, Meteorological Hazards and Inputs to the Mediterranean Hydrological System (CLIMAMET) carries out two types of activities: research and scientific-technical assistance to the public administration. 

Within the research activity, CLIMAMET works on three scientific lines: 

  • Climate change analysis.
  • The study of meteorological hazards.
  • The examination of new inputs to the hydrological system.

The first of these focuses on the analysis of the spatio-temporal variability of air temperature and precipitation, as well as other climatic elements, with emphasis on the Valencian territory and the Mediterranean area. The research carried out by members of the group on the changes observed in air temperature in the Valencian Community by means of statistical downscaling techniques, or the climatic trends in precipitation according to its typology, stand out for their pioneering nature.

 The group has extensive experience in the monitoring of temperature and precipitation variables, using surface and satellite data, and their short- and medium-term forecasting, as well as the analysis and forecasting of extreme events, with cross-comparisons between statistical and mesoscale models, and observed and satellite data of great importance in meteorological hazard studies. This is done using advanced techniques in reconstruction-homogenisation of observed data, remote sensing, modelling and prediction.

The second line of research focuses on the analysis of the causes and dynamic processes that control meteorological hazard situations in the western Mediterranean basin, with the aim of helping to improve the prediction of three of them: torrential rainfall, extreme temperatures and forest fires. The group counts on tools (change mapping, impact indices and forecasts) to improve the management of the effects of climate change in the IMB and of extreme event warning systems, for the activation of social and environmental intervention protocols.

And the third scientific line is about analysing new inputs to the hydrological system, specifically the contribution of fog water and potential environmental uses. 

These lines of research find support in the scientific infrastructure available to CLIMAMET, specifically in the presence of a series of meteorological sensors supported, in part, by the Network of meteorological towers of the Centre for Environmental Studies of the Mediterranean Foundation (CEAM), and in the spatial data management tools available in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory of the Department of Geography. The generation of meteorological databases is essential for climate studies, as well as for feeding the RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modelling System) meteorological model, adapted to Mediterranean conditions by the group's researchers and used to support weather hazard forecasting. 

CLIMAMET has extensive experience in providing scientific and technical assistance to the public administration. In fact, before the creation of the CLIMAMET group, its members, led by María José Estrela (Director of this group), made up the research team of the Joint Unit Climatology Laboratory CEAM_UV, which actively participated in assisting the public administration. Of particular note is the design and management since 2006 of the "Operational prediction of hazard levels due to heat waves in the Valencian Community" programme for the Regional Ministry of Health, as well as, since 2007, the "Data validation service of the ultraviolet B radiation measurement network and optimisation of UVI level prediction processes in the Valencian Community" for the Conselleria de Territori y Habitatge of the Valencian Government. Subsequently, as the CLIMAMET Research Group (GIUV2014-209), it has continued to provide assistance to the administration, specifically to the Conselleria de Medi Ambient, agua, Urbanisme i Habitatge with a "Study to obtain fog water for the provision of watering places for native fauna in the Muela de Cortes hunting reserve". In turn, the Group's director Dr. Estrela is a member of the Committee of Experts on Climate Change of the Valencian Government.

CLIMAMET is a multidisciplinary Research Group with the participation of researchers from different fields such as Physical Geography, Climatology, Atmospheric Physics, and Hydrology, with objectives around common lines of research. Participating as members of CLIMAMET are Dr. María José Estrela (Director), Dr. Javier Miró, Dr. Alejandro Pérez Cueva and Dr. Ana Camarasa, all of them from the Department of Geography of the UV; Dr. Vicente Caselles and Dr. Raquel Niclós from the Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics of the UV. The collaborating researchers are Dr. Igor Gómez Assistant Professor at the University of Alicante, Dr. José Antonio Valiente and Dr. Francisco Pastor Senior Researchers at the CEAM Foundation.

Research Group on Economic and social behavior - CES

The aim of the research group is to analyse the economic and social behaviour of economic and social agents, from an interdisciplinary perspective based on methodologies of economic analysis, game theory, quantitative, experimental and computational methods.

Research Group on Education in Reading, Literature, Linguistics, Culture and Society - ELCIS

The Elcis research group has carried out research into reading, literary, media and linguistic training in multicultural and multilingual contexts at different educational levels in both L1 and L2 and foreign languages. It began when we were awarded the research project "Globalisation, exclusion and multiculturalism in Children's and Young Adult Literature" (UV-AE-20060713) in 2006.

Since then and until now we have been working on different research, cooperation and innovation projects. A determining factor for the consolidation and expansion not only of research lines, but also of members and collaborators was the award of the R+D+I project "Literary Education and Interculturality" of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (EDU 2008-01782/EDUC), National Programme for Fundamental Research in the framework of the 6th National Plan for Scientific Research.

We have taken part in other projects such as "Diversity and (in)equality in contemporary Spanish literature for children and young people" (UV-IMV-PRECOMP-13-115502), "Literary images of diversity: citizenship and identity through reading and literary education" (GV 2015-050). Or the centre innovation projects "Innovation, Research and Quality in Higher Education: Projects and Proposals in teaching research in the Complementary Activities Weeks" in different editions or "Work on the impact of the use of interactive whiteboards in the higher education of teachers of Infant, Primary and Secondary Education". As well as "Comparative study of DLL subjects in the new degrees of Early Childhood Education" project awarded by the University of Seville. Projects for Teaching Research (038-A6-2010) with researchers from the universities of Seville, Jaén, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, A Coruña; the project DETERMINING FACTORS IN THE READING HABITS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION STUDENTS (PR2017-040) granted by the University of Cadiz. Or the cooperation project "Preparation of teacher training agents and institutional teams to enable innovation and improvement in research and teacher training in intercultural bilingual education in the Andean and Caribbean areas" of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (D/030992/10); "Linguistic competences and cultural identity of students of immigrant origin - integration variables in immigration contexts" (APE/2015/004).

We have also been part of the project "MEDIATIC COMPETENCIES OF THE CITIZENSHIP IN EMERGING DIGITAL MEDIA (SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS): INNOVATIVE PRACTICES AND EDUCOMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES IN MULTIPLE CONTEXTS of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. National Programme for R&D Projects (EDU2015-64015-C3-1-R) with 40 researchers from 11 Spanish universities and 8 Latin American and European countries or the project "YOUTUBERS AND INSTAGRAMMERS: MEDIATIC COMPETITION IN EMERGING PROSUMERS" of the STATE RESEARCH AGENCY - 2018 Calls for Knowledge Generation R&D Projects and R&D Projects and RESEARCH CHALLENGES.

The Elcis group has also organised all kinds of scientific meetings related to our research: among others, the 3rd International Conference on Catalan Literature for Children and Young Adults (2006); and the International Conference on Literary Education and Society. The teaching of literature to young adults (2007); Interdisciplinary Conference on Women's Studies (2009); : 3rd Conference on Teaching Innovation in Higher Education (2014); 1st and 2nd International Conference Teaching Literature in English for Young Learners (2012) and (2015); 15th International Conference of the Spanish Society of Language and Literature Didactics (2014); Conference on Research, Innovation and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education (2014), (2015), (2016), (2017) and ((2018) or the Conference on Reading, Literary and Linguistic Education. They are currently part of the network of excellence of the project EXCELLENCE NETWORK IN MEDIATIC EDUCATION of the Ministry of Economy, Programme of Dynamisation Actions Networks of Excellence R+D (Action 2016) (EDU2016-81772-REDT) participating entities: 10 R+D IPs 10 Spanish universities.

Research Group on Environmental Change and Anthropogenic Action in Mediterranean Coastal Plains - MEDCOSVAL

Cycles of high frequency and magnitude of flooding in the Mediterranean coastal plains are a good indicator of Holocene and historical climate variability, comparable to other manifestations of change such as high frequency cycles of coastal storms or fluctuations in glaciers. These phases promote a great dynamism in the processes and shape the most recent morphological features of the coastal floodplains. The sub-environments of floodplain, deltaic front and fringing wetlands function in the face of change as a "cascading geomorphological system" in which processes are interconnected. The analysis of their dynamics must take into account the multiple connections that exist. The intense and ancient human occupation of these areas makes for an exceptional combination of natural and anthropic history. For this reason, there is a wealth of documentary information about climatic events, processes and human action. 

Changes and discontinuities in natural systems correspond to thresholds and tipping points, controlled by environmental resilience, climate variability and human activity. This paradigm is a topic of growing interest among researchers in the earth sciences, social sciences and humanities who focus on climate, environmental change and society. The number of papers is steadily increasing and it is no coincidence that many proposals for methodological revision are produced in the Mediterranean area. For many years there have been renewed efforts to demonstrate the exceptional character of this region where natural and human history combine. For 10,000 years the Mediterranean has had a long history of civilisations; an international community of specialists has been studying Neolithic, Bronze, Roman, Medieval etc. for some time. Thus, there is no region in the world that possesses a comparable body of knowledge about its historical and prehistoric societies. At the same time, the Mediterranean physical environment has attracted the attention of geologists, geographers, climatologists and other earth scientists. All these researchers from different disciplines have a common challenge: to understand the interaction between climate, climate change, environment and society. Many contacts and collaborations between the disciplines of earth sciences and the history of human activity started very early on in interdisciplinary projects. It has become evident that environmental change and breaks or discontinuities can be related not only to climatic variability or the particular regional context, but also to anthropogenic activity that has largely accelerated or redirected landscape evolution.

Research Group on Global Change Unit - UCG

The study area of the Global Change Unit is related to the changes that our planet has experienced, which are analysed with the support of remote sensing satellites and the digital processing of the images provided by them. The aim of the research group is to develop operational algorithms in order to estimate different parameters such as land and sea surface temperature, land surface emissivity, albedo, thermal inertia, evapotranspiration, net radiation, total atmospheric water-vapour content, etc. The spatio-temporal dynamics of land cover from satellites is also studied. All of this is done based on the data provided by satellite-based sensors located on satellites platforms (AVHRR, TM, AATSR, MODIS, SEVIRI, METOP, ASTER, etc.) and airbone sensors (DAIS, AHS, etc.). In addition, the UCG also organises and carries out frequent field campaigns to determine some of these parameters using radiometers, thermal cameras, etc. 

The UCG has, among other scientific instrumentation, satellite image reception antennas corresponding to the MSG (Meteosat Second Generation) and NOAA satellites, as well as a reception station for obtaining images from the TERRA and AQUA satellites (www.uv.es/iplsat/). The UCG is a reference group that allows to apply the developed algorithms to the images received in real time; to maintain an archive of satellite data that can be available to any public body interested in monitoring natural disasters, desertification, forest fires, etc.; and to participate in projects for the development of future space missions for earth observation, both nationally and internationally.

The UCG also has extensive experience with active participation in different research projects, leading two European projects:

  • WATERMED "WATer use Efficiency in natural vegetation and agricultural areas by remalnom sensing in the MEDiterranean basin”, in which 5 groups from Spain, Denmark, France, Egypt and Morocco have participated. 
  • EAGLE "Exploitation of Angular effects in Land surfacE observations from satellites”, in which groups from Spain, the Netherlands and France have participated.

And participating in numerous European projects: WATCH "Water and Global Change" of the 6th framework programme and CEOP-AEGIS "Coordinated Asia-European long-term Observing system of Qinghai - Tibet Plateau hydro-meteorological processes and the Asian-monsoon systEm with Ground satellite Image data and numerical Simulations" of the 7th programme. In addition, we have participated and/or led other projects financed by the European Space Agency (CEFLES2, AGRISAR, SEN2FLEX, SPARC, SIFLEX y DAISEX), the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI).

It is also worth mentioning the numerous collaborations of the UCG with research staff from national and international research centres, particularly with the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the Netherlands, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Alterra Research Institute at Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands, the University of Washington (USA), the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) of the Netherlands, the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique of Avignon and Bordeaux (France), the Groupe de Recherche en Télédetection Radiométrique at the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg (France), the Laboratory of Sustainable Agriculture of the CSIC in Córdoba, the Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources at the University of Chile, the University of Marrakech (Morocco).

Research Group on Integrated Laboratory of Intelligent Systems and Traffic Information Technology - LISITT

The LISITT group was set up in 1989 with the aim of filling the existing gap in Spain in the area of telematics applications in the field of traffic and transport. Its initial activities were focused on the execution of international research and development projects within the European ESPRIT and DRIVE programmes of the 2nd Framework Programme of the European Union. 

Since its origins, LISITT has specialised in the study and development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), covering technological, organisational and strategic aspects. LISITT has been carrying out projects for more than 20 years for national traffic and transport administrations, including the Directorate General of Traffic, the Ministry of Public Works and its regional counterparts in the Basque and Catalan Governments. LISITT is currently a multidisciplinary group (Physics, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Mathematics, Geography) that brings together more than 60 professionals, all of them university graduates, including civil servants, contracted teachers and its own research staff, and has established itself as a reference group in consultancy on telematics applied to transport, in the development of ITS systems, and strategic consultancy on management issues and the development of traffic systems. 

The work carried out since its origins has consolidated LISITT as a Spanish reference group in consultancy on telematics applied to transport, in the development of ITS systems, and strategic consultancy on management, development and maintenance of traffic systems for administrations, as reflected by the fact that LISITT has been participating for more than 10 years as expert advisors representing the Directorate-General for Traffic in different national and international standardisation committees and in European working groups on ITS systems, including the World Committee for Standardisation in ITS systems ISO/TC204, the European Committee for Standardisation of ITS systems CEN/TC278 and the Spanish Committee for Telematics applied to transport and road traffic AEN/CTN 159. The role played by LISITT in the creation, assistance and monitoring of the Euro-regional SERTI project (1995 - 2006), the Euro-regional ARTS project (1997 - 2006) and the European EasyWay project (2007-2013) should also be highlighted. 

Apart from these consultancy activities in the standardisation groups in the field of ITS systems, LISITT's most important projects are grouped around the following topics:

  • Consultancy to traffic administrations on coordination and organisation of international traffic control and management projects.
  • Technical assistance to public administrations in traffic management and information systems.
  • Study, development and maintenance of traffic information systems for public traffic administrations.
  • Coordination and execution of R&D&I projects, both from the European Union and national calls for proposals.
  • Analysis, design, construction and development of information systems for private companies.
  • Computer security, data protection and privacy.
Research Group on International, Constitutional and Comparative Tax Studies - ETICCs

Legal analysis of national and international tax regulations from a constitutional, EU law and comparative perspective. Verification of the legality of the procedures for applying the taxes that form part of the tax systems.

Research Group on Laboratory of Microbiology Oenological - ENOLAB

Lines of work:

  • Ecology and diversity. Taxonomy. Molecular methods of detection and identification. Studies on the ecology of yeast and bacteria species in wine. Taxonomic analysis and description of new species. Development of different methodologies for the detection, identification and quantification of organisms present in wine. Quality control. Control of the implementation of starter cultures.
  • Metabolisms of sugars, acids and aminoacids in lactic acid bacteria. This line of work is aimed at understanding the ability of microorganisms to use substrates present in must or wine, to determine how these substrates affect bacterial growth, and to determine the effect of their use on wine characteristics.
  • Genetics, genomics and proteomics of Oenococcus oeni. O. oeni is the species responsible for malolactic fermentation in wines, a process that enhances the qualities of aged red wines. Most malolactic starter cultures are strains of this species. The aim of this line of work is to develop tools for the genetic manipulation of this species: plasmids for cloning, malolactic mutants and DNA introduction systems, etc. Comparative genomics studies to establish relationships between genome and resistance to wine stress factors.
  • Malolactic fermentation. Selection of O. oeni and Lactobacillus plantarum strains as malolactic cultures. Development of advanced strategies to carry out malolactic fermentation: immobilised cells, continuous deacidification, non-proliferating cells. Adaptation of strains to SO2 and pH.
  • Selection and adaptation of bacteria and yeasts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Correction of imbalances in the composition of musts and wines. Biological acidification of wines. Biological reduction of alcohol content.
  • Microbial or enzymatic systems to remove toxic biogenic amines in food. Search for strains of lactic acid bacteria capable of degrading biogenic amines in wines. Search for enzymes responsible for the degradation of biogenic amines. Development of cellular and enzymatic systems that allow their use in wines and other food.
Research Group on Limnology - Limnologia

This group has a recognised prestige for the numerous quality works it has carried out in inland aquatic ecosystems and for the new researchers that have been trained. The following are some of the basic and applied research topics carried out by this group.

Basic research in:

  1. Specific richness and dynamics of populations and communities of aquatic organisms: bacteria, phytoplankton, periphyton, zooplankton, acoto- and zoo-benthos and fish, and their controlling factors.
  2. Dynamics and functioning of aquatic ecosystems: biogeochemical cycles, productivity, microbial processes.
  3. Study of aquatic food webs, their structure, key species and vulnerability to global change.
  4. Community coupling: mechanisms and rules.
  5. Biogeochemistry of carbon in aquatic ecosystems, GHGs and climate change.
  6. Molecular ecology.
  7. Paleolimnology and global change.
  8. Polar zone limnology.
  9. Pancrustacean genomics.
  10. Ecotoxicology.
  11. Remote-sensing.

Applied research in:

  1. Aquatic pollution and eutrophication processes.
  2. Physico-chemical and microbiological water quality.
  3. Characterisation of aquatic ecosystems.
  4. Monitoring and assessment of the environmental and conservation status of aquactic ecosystems.
  5. Management and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.
  6. Assessment of the response of aquatic ecosystems to global changes, including chemical pollution.
  7. Ecosystem management applied to climate change mitigation.
  8. Water purification and naturalisation in artificial wetlands.
  9. Bioremediation.
  10. Alien invasive species in inland waters.
  11. Remote-sensing as a tool for the study of environmental quality and ecological status of inland waters.
Research Group on Mediterranean Hydrology - RIUMED

The study of floods in watercourses is one of the key pillars for understanding flood risk in Mediterranean environments. These are small basins, with ephemeral circulation, whose configuration is determined by a few high-energy events, where certain hydrogeomorphological thresholds are exceeded, which cause the greatest changes in the fluvial system and the main dangers for man.

Establishing the risk pattern of these basins implies knowing from which rainfall thresholds (quantity, intensity and spatial distribution) surface runoff occurs, and which flow thresholds generate the main problems in the floodplain. Our group is dedicated to estimating these hydrogeomorphological thresholds, based on the detailed study of extreme events. The analysis contemplated three scales of work: a) a general scale, which encompasses the territory assigned to the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (43. 000 km2), where precipitation thresholds are addressed in relation to the synoptic situation, relief and sea temperature; b) a basin scale (pilot basins of Carraixet, Poyo, La Rambla de la Castellana, Rambla de Gallinera and Riu Vernissa), where runoff production thresholds are studied, in relation to the hydrogeomorphological configuration and land uses; c) a more detailed scale (pilot basins of Carraixet, Poyo, La Rambla de la Castellana, Rambla de Gallinera and Riu Vernissa), where runoff production thresholds are studied in relation to the hydrogeomorphological configuration and land uses; and c) a more detailed, flood plain scale, where risk levels are analysed in relation to overflow, natural hazard and vulnerability thresholds.

The study of specific episodes is based on data from the SAIH-Júcar (Automatic Hydrological Information System), since 1989. Based on this data, a system for storing and filtering the information has been developed that allows working on different time scales, from five minutes to the annual scale. With these records, rainfall episodes are defined and characterised with indicators of accumulated rainfall, intensity, duration, torrential rainfall, irregularity and persistence. The behaviour of extreme rainfall is analysed for different time scales of observation (5', 15', 30', 1 h, 2h, 3h, 4h, 6h, 12 h and 24h) and its spatial distribution in the territory of the CHJ. The maxima are studied in relation to the geographical factors of altitude, orientation and distance from the sea. Risk patterns are also studied in terms of hazard and vulnerability factors of the population, taking into account their spatial distribution and according to the characteristics of spatial occupation, in terms of temporal patterns (days, nights, working hours and public holidays).

All the information is crossed with the data provided by the Civil Protection Services and the Insurance Compensation Consortium in order to obtain relationships between the rainfall indicators and the categories of damage caused by the episodes. This joint study allows us to evaluate the degree of adequacy of the rainfall thresholds in force in the National Plan for the Prediction and Monitoring of Adverse Phenomena, METEOALERTA.

In addition, thanks to a research agreement with the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency Response, intense episodes are analysed in relation to the calls to 1.1.2 CV (with special attention to on-site rainfall). On the other hand, the Integrated Flood Danger Map of the Valencian Community (MIPICOVA) has been drawn up based on the integration of the official cartography of the Territorial Flood Risk Plan of the Valencian Community (PATRICOVA) and the National Flood Zone Mapping System (SNCZI).

Flood risk in wadis is currently being assessed in the context of climate change (considering new trends in precipitation inputs to Mediterranean systems and response hydrographs).

 

Research Group on Modeling Complex Systems: Personality, Brain and Social Systems - MOSISCOM

For years we have been working and publishing on the biological basis of personality, especially the brain and genetic mechanisms that underlie human behaviour. In this process we have proposed a theory on the General Personality Factor, and we have created an instrument to assess it. We have also proposed and investigated psychological intervention techniques (based on classical conditioning and suggestion) to modify personality and emotional states. At the same time, we have created complex mathematical models to study the dynamics of personality in the face of external stimuli, especially drugs. In this sense, we have mathematically modelled brain reactions to different drugs as a function of individual differences, while at the same time we have created a dynamic model that explains drug addictions.

Research Group on Multimodal Education and Multiliteracy through Literature, Art, Foreign Languages and Learning & Knowledge Technologies - LiTerart

This group brings together researchers from different universities and disciplines who share a common goal: to develop research aimed, firstly, at providing a comprehensive education that contributes to the personal, intercultural and social education of 21st century students and, secondly, at developing their reading, linguistic, critical and creative skills and abilities.

To this end, we combine educational research with didactic innovation to study the pedagogical value of the use and impact of multiliteracies and multimodal resources in the classroom, through the approach of several cross-disciplines related primarily to the humanities, art education, foreign language teaching and new technologies for learning and knowledge (TAC).

The aim of Lit(T)erart is to deepen the contribution of these areas, mainly in teacher training and in the development of curricular proposals that promote the cognitive, conceptual, socio-cultural and aesthetic dimensions, and then focus on the design of an evaluation system based on the creation of rubrics that show the progress of students and the validity of the proposed methodology.

In line with the EHEA guidelines, we propose to build a didactic scaffolding based on the pedagogy of multiliteracies that not only considers language as an exclusive form for the construction of meanings, but also incorporates multimodality as a mode of representation for creating and expressing ideas.

Research Group on Organic Materials for Detecting and Controlled Release - MODeLiC

The development of new complex chemical systems for industrial application, such as chemical sensors or new materials for controlled release, requires a multidisciplinary approach; including knowledge of fields such as analytical, organic and inorganic chemistry, electronics and engineering. The Research Group on Organic Materials for Detecting and Controlled Release, MODeLiC, of the Universitat de València, mainly works on two research lines:

1. Synthesis, characterisation and assessment of chemical sensors for the detection of all kinds of small species with environmental and biomedical applications. In this field, the group has been working in recent years on the design and assessment of sensors, mainly colorimetric and fluorometric, for the detection of chemical warfare agents (nerve gases). Over the last few years, work on sensors for this type of agents has aroused great interest in the international community as the existing methods are expensive and require specialised personnel, which makes their use complicated in situations of attack with this type of agents on civilians. The group’s second area of interest is the detection of pollutant gases. The area of application in this case is both industrial and in public environments. Within this section, the group is working on sensor preparation for nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulphide and other pollutant gases. It is noteworthy that some of these gases (nitric oxide, hydrogen sulphide) are species found in cells and are responsible for certain biological responses. For this reason, work is also being done on the assessment of the sensory response of prepared compounds in cells. More recently, work has been carried out on the preparation of colorimetric sensors for the detection of chemical submission drugs (particularly, GHB) in beverages. The prepared sensors are able to recognise the presence of the drug in all types of drinks. These sensors can be used “in situ” by anyone as they are easy to use, safe and selective.

2. Design and characterisation of materials for the controlled release of drugs, highlighting applications in the treatment of osteoporosis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s syndrome and the detection and treatment of solid tumours (hypoxic environments). One of the current challenges raised in drug development is to find new methods or delivery systems that represent more effective and safer alternatives than the pharmaceutical forms already available. Therefore, in many cases, it is advisable to look for alternative dosage forms that allow better access of the drug to its place of action. In order to improve the control of drug release, our group employs a new approach consisting of the preparation of “smart materials” that are regulated by external stimuli. The design of nano- or micromaterials functionalised with molecular gates is a very fertile and promising area of work that is taking traditional coordination chemistry and supramolecular chemistry to the boundaries of nanoscience, molecular biology and biochemistry. These systems are inspired by bio-channels and bio-gates and generally by biological processes that originate transformations triggered by specific chemical species. The study of this release model can be applied to a large number of pathologies, but our group is studying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This disease includes two related pathologies, ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Furthermore, the preparation of theranostic materials is a research field that is arousing more interest every day. These materials allow simultaneous detection of a pathology and its treatment. In this field, organic-inorganic hybrid materials have proven to be a very useful alternative for obtaining this type of compounds.

Research Group on Solar Radiation - GRSV

The Solar Radiation Group of Valencia (GRSV) is a reference group in the two lines in which it works, atmospheric aerosols and solar UV radiation, and is considered a Group of Excellence of the Valencian Community through the Prometheus 2010 and Prometheus 2014 Projects, granted by the Generalitat Valenciana. The Solar Radiation Group has participated in numerous field campaigns, from Sodankyla (Finland) to Marrakesh (Morocco), including those carried out by the ESA (European Space Agency) in the Barrax area (Albacete), during 1998, 1999 and 2000 (DAISEX I and II, Digital Airbone Imaging Spectrometer EXperiment), 2003 and 2004 (SPARC, SPectra bARrax Campaign) and 2005 (SEN2FLEX, SENtinel-2 and Fluorescence Experiment).

It has coordinated the thematic networks DAMOCLES "Determination of Aerosols by Column Measurements (Lidar), Extinction and Soil" I and II during the years 2004 to 2010, in which more than thirty Spanish Institutions have participated. In recent years the GRSV has participated in the SAVEX (Sunphotometer Airborne Validation Experiment) campaigns which took place in June 2012 in Tenerife and the western region of the Sahara. This campaign consisted of the measurement of aerosol properties during a Saharan intrusion (mineral dust, of great climatic importance). The interest lay in the simultaneous measurement of properties using CIMEL CE318 (whose data were developed by AERONET) and PREDE POM (whose data were developed by ESR-SKYNET) instruments for comparison and validation with vertical profile measurements obtained with instruments installed on board an aircraft.

Different European groups were involved in this campaign, mainly from the UK MetOffice, the University of Reading (UK) and the Consiglio Nazionalle delle Ricerche (Italy). This campaign was carried out in the framework of the DA-SAVEX project, awarded in the pre-competitive programme of the University of La Laguna, and also supported to a large extent by the UK MetOffice, which provided the necessary aerial means and the instrumentation on board the aircraft. It has also participated in the Sunphotometer Airborne Validation Experiment in Dust - SAVEX/D campaign in April 2017 (http://pre-tect.space.noa.gr) and CHemistry and AeRosols Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx; http://charmex.lsce.ipsl.fr), which is a collaborative research programme that introduces international activities to investigate Regional Interactions of Mediterranean Chemistry and Climate. The Solar Radiation group currently participates in the international aerosol measurement network AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET, https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

The AERONET programme is a federation of ground-based aerosol networks established by NASA and PHOTONS (PHOtométrie pour le Traitement Opérationnel de Normalisation Satellitaire; Univ. De Lille 1, CNES and CNRS-INSU) and extended through other networks such as RIMA (Red Ibérica de Medida de Aerosoles), AeroSpan, AEROCAN and CARSNET with national agencies, institutes and universities as partners.

The programme provides a public domain database of optical, microphysical and radiative properties of aerosols for aerosol research and characterisation, satellite validation and synergy with other databases. The Solar Radiation group has two stations (Burjassot and Aras de los Olmos) that are part of this AERONET network and actively collaborate with other Spanish stations of the RIMA Network in its operation. In addition, the GRSV also coordinates the European Skynet Radiometers network (ESR, http://www.euroskyrad.net/) together with the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). In this network, whose scientific objective is also the characterisation of atmospheric aerosols and their interaction with clouds and solar radiation, as well as the validation of satellite products, several European Universities/Meteorological Services from Italy, Germany, UK, Chile, as well as the NREL in the USA participate.

In addition, the GRSV is an Associated Partner in the ACTRIS2 (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) (www.actris.eu), a European research infrastructure (RI) funded under the H2020 programme in the context of Climate Change. The network has been accepted in the ESFRI (The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure) roadmap in 2016. This means that the ACTRIS network is set up as a pan-European research infrastructure that will be consolidated and operational over the next ten years. The ACTRIS project involves 28 European organisations and aims to establish a network of stable scientific infrastructures equipped with advanced instrumentation for the measurement of atmospheric aerosols, gases and clouds. 
They also participate in the ACTRIS-SPAIN thematic network (CGL2017-90884-REDT) which is developing research on the direct and indirect effects of aerosols and clouds, as well as on the processes associated with atmospheric pollutants that are involved in the deterioration of air quality causing adverse effects on health and ecosystems.

ACTRIS-SPAIN will also contribute to the development of sustainable solutions to environmental challenges and thus fits perfectly into the overall objectives of ACTRIS. In this network, work is being carried out during this final quarter of 2020 to transform the Memorandum of Understanding that exists between the participants in this network and AEMET, which participates in it as an external entity, into a Joint Research Unit (JRU), operational at European level, through an agreement between the entities adapted to Law 40/2015 on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector. ACTRIS-SPAIN members currently participate as beneficiaries, third parties, or associated participants, in the H2020 project of preparatory phase for the implementation of European research infrastructures ACTRIS-PPP (Grant Agreement no. 739530).

Our group also participates in European projects within the framework of the H2020 programme. Specifically, in the EMPIR-Environment call (European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research co-funded by the H2020 programme) of EURAMET (European Metrology Networks). The project is entitled Metrology of Aerosol Optical Properties (MAPP) and aims to study the traceability of aerosol measurements in the atmospheric column, and the estimation of the uncertainty of the products offered by the different international measurement networks has been accepted and will be developed in the years 2020 - 2023 by a consortium that includes different leading Spanish and European laboratories, such as the Lille Laboratory of Atmospheric Optics (LOA, France), National Research Centre (CNRS, France), Italian National Research Council (CNR, Italy), Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET, Spain), University of Reading (URE, UK), University of Valladolid (UVa, Spain). The project is coordinated by the Schweizerisches Forschungsinstitut für Hochgebirgsklima und Medizin (SFI Davos, Switzerland) and in Valencia the PI in charge is Victor Estellés, member of the team requesting the project.

The main lines of research of the GRSV are:

  • Atmospheric aerosols and clouds.
  • Characterisation of atmospheric aerosols from extinction measurements of solar irradiance and sky radiance.
  • Dependence of atmospheric aerosols on the origin of air masses.
  • Inversion methods to determine aerosol size distributions.
  • Dynamic analysis of aerosol hygroscopic growth.
  • Relationship of Angstrom coefficients with aerosol characteristics.
  • Remote sensing applications. Atmospheric correction.
  • Determination of the atmospheric profile of aerosols using lidar techniques.
  • Measurement of cloud radiative properties.
  • Study of the radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols.
  • Study of aerosol-cloud interactions and their radiative effects.
  • Solar Ultraviolet radiation.
  • Effects of UVB radiation on humans.
  • UVI (UltraViolet Index) prediction.
  • Solar simulators for use in clinical dermatology.
  • Spectral and integrated measurement of solar UV radiation.
  • Modelling of the direct and diffuse components of solar UV radiation.
  • Modelling of solar UV radiation on inclined planes.
  • Measurements of solar UVB radiation and prediction of erythemal solar UV radiation under clear and cloudless skies.
Research Group on Sustainable Development, Global and Regional Governance, Contemporary International and European Order - DSGMROIEC

The Research group to which this application refers is called “Sustainable development, global and regional governance, contemporary international and European order and values.” This is a subject on which the applicant Research group has been working for several years with the support of various regional, national and international research grants and projects.

In the current phase of development of the Research group’s activities, the focus is broadening from the perspective of environmental protection to the wider aspects of sustainable development, which includes three pillars: economic, social and environmental. This is an essential concern of contemporary international and European communities, whose constitutional foundations for the coming years have been set out in the document entitled “The Future We Want”, adopted at the Rio + 20 Summit on Environment and Development, held on June 2012 under the auspices of the United Nations. The main elements of the Research group’s activity, as its name suggests, are four.

Firstly, contents related to the paradigm on sustainable development in its international and European dimension, including, among other issues: the legal nature of the concept of sustainable development, the content of the notion of sustainable development in its economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects, the basic characteristics of the criterion of sustainability, issues linked to disparities in the development of peoples, the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities, the notions of developed countries, developing countries and emerging countries, as well as intergenerational justice.

Secondly, it will examine all the issues linked to global governance in the field of sustainable development, paying particular attention to the evolution of the international institutional framework, both at global level (institutions of the United Nations Organisation system) and at a regional level (Latin America, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Arctic), proposals and implementations in the economic, social and enviromental fields in order to achieve sustainable development. In this context, particular attention will be paid to developments within the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Thirdly, as the Research group is mainly composed of internationalists specialised in Law and International Relations, particular attention will be paid, among other issues, to the impact of the concept of sustainable development in the various sectors of International Law (International economic law, International human rights law, International environmental law, International labour law), conceptual and normative developments at international and European level,  with particular attention to new legal instruments that have been recently adopted and those that will be adopted in the coming years. The results of the research will be issued in scientific publications, whether articles in national or international indexed journals, or monographs published by publishers of excellence.

Fourthly and finally, we will analyse the values that both the international community and the European Union consider necessary to govern their relations and therefore worthy of legal protection, both at international, European and national levels.

Continuing the tradition of the Research group, our activities will also include: participation in various research activities at transnational level, organisation of and participation in scientific conferences at international, European and national level, participation in the Meetings of the Parties on the International Conventions for the protection of the environment, contribution to the development of legal instruments in the status of international experts, membership in various bodies linked to the effective implementation of international and European standards in the field, etc.