The ARTEC group focuses its research tasks in the field of computer graphics. Within this area is focused on interactive 3D graphics, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Civil Simulation. In addition, the group works in related areas such as ubiquitous computing or intelligent environments. The group performs both basic and applied research tasks. In this sense, the group has applied simulation systems to training and research in human factors, emphasizing especially in driving simulators. This line of work has led to the development of hardware systems for immersive 3D projection supports, as well as motion platforms for the generation of gravitational-inertial keys with the development of mechanical actuators.
The group's research activity is developed through the following work lines:
To identify and describe the processes of formation of the climate and culture of the organisations. To determine the influence that leadership has on the processes of formation of the organisational climate and culture, and on its average levels and variability. To determine the influence of the organisational climate and culture, and leadership, on key processes in the functioning of work units (e.g., conflict, communication, reflexivity). To estimate the indirect effects of climate, culture and leadership on the results of the work units (e.g., performance, quality of service) and the quality of working life of its members (e.g., psychological well-being, job satisfaction), through the processes indicated above.
To determine the influence that the composition of work teams based on demographic variables (e.g., gender, education, seniority) has on the processes and results of the teams. To develop and validate measurement instruments (e.g., tests, questionnaires, scales) to measure the variables listed above. To determine the invariance of the psychometric properties of these measures through demographic groups (e.g., men-women), languages (e.g., Spanish-Portuguese), and countries and cultural contexts.
Changes due to globalisation, the technological revolution and digitalisation are encouraging organisations to develop new forms of collaborative work through virtual teams and communities. These collaborative tools are relevant business strategies as they allow for improved learning and knowledge management and, therefore, contribute to making organisations more innovative, more visible and more competitive.
The characteristics of collaborative work have recently changed as users of geographically dispersed virtual teams or communities have the possibility of combining different technological applications to respond to the demands of the project or task they are carrying out (e.g. wiki, forum, social/corporate network, etc.). In this sense, important changes occur in the nature of the relationships between users, in the processes related to the resolution of the task and its performance (e.g. identification, sense of community, trust, leadership, conflict, productivity, quality of knowledge...) that need to be addressed.
The aim of our research group is to create ‘frontier knowledge’ about the effects that collaborative technologies have on individual and collective well-being from a basic perspective, which is then transferred to the applied context of businesses. This way, we analyse the functioning of virtual teams and communities that work in dynamic environments with complex tasks with a double purpose: a) to develop training strategies and improve their effectiveness, and b) to offer guidelines for the efficient design of these collaborative tools.
Virtual teams (VTs). During the last decade, the study of VTs has consolidated as an extensive area of research with important results and relevant heuristic models have been developed to explain the key aspects of the successful functioning of these groups. The research carried out in recent years by different research teams, including ours, has focused on the differential study of these teams with respect to those that communicate in a conventional way, i.e. "face to face". However, it is now known that these virtual teams have their own idiosyncrasies and, therefore, from a psychosocial and positive perspective, it is advocated to analyse the aspects that influence their well-being and performance. The specific way in which the virtual team is structured (emergence of subgroups according to the processes of social categorisation) as well as having emotional skills to optimise its resources (training in emotion management) are shaped as areas of interest when developing our research.
Furthermore, the cooperation of teams in today's organisations extends to the exchange of knowledge in virtual communities, interest groups in professional social networks or in internal company networks, which extends our research towards the analysis of the process of sharing knowledge in virtual communities. In this research context, the efficient design of virtual communities of practice with a view to improving their sustainability is of particular interest. These can be defined as groups created by the organisation, with visibility of its members, with common purposes and oriented towards sharing knowledge on web platforms. In this sense, our research group aims to investigate the factors that favour their effective and appropriate use for social innovation and knowledge management.
Research group focused on the analysis of the changes and mutations caused by the digitalisation process in the contents and structures of the media and the public. The group arose from the activity of most of its researchers, since 2007, within the framework of the ‘Analysis Group of the Valencian Digital Media’ (since 2007), which has led to the achievement of three R&D projects (financed by the Generalitat Valenciana and the Universitat de València) and an annual congress (Digital Communication Congress in the Valencian Community), which began to be held in 2009. All this resulted in five monographs and an abundant number of partial publications in congresses, journals and book chapters.
In addition, the group has obtained a R&D project of the National R&D&I Plan, granted in the 2013 call, and which covers the period from 2014 to 2016. The title of the project is ‘Communication flows in political mobilisation processes: media, blogs and opinion leaders’ (reference CSO2013-43960-R). The research related to this project constitutes the critical point of the group's research. This group’s research mainly focuses on influence: who influences whom, in what way, and with what effects. We focus on the flows through which information circulates because they will allow us to see this process of translating messages and combining agendas, which all try to influence the public space. We seek to see which ones are more influential and in which direction, or directions, the flow of information transmission takes place.
The trajectory of the research group "Educating in emotions in childhood and adolescence" goes back more than 10 years. During these years, different professionals from other national and international universities have joined the group, contributing research in the area of emotional development in children and young people.
Currently, the group is formed by researchers from the Universitat de València, Universidad Jaume I, Universidad Católica de Valencia, Universidad Europea de Valencia, Leiden University, University of Bologna, the University of Berlín, as well as the Instituto Tecnológico del Juguete (AIJU), and other professionals in the field of psychology.
The members of the research team have extensive teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and in the direction of collaborative grants, research work and doctoral theses, certified in the CVs.
In 2010, the group started a new stage in the development of emotional education with the project 'Identificación de los perfiles de competencia emocional en la infancia para la mejora de la convivencia entre iguales' (Identification of emotional competence profiles in childhood for the improvement of coexistence between equals) (PSI2010-18742).
The research that is currently being carried out focuses on the results obtained in this project carried out in childhood, where the power of emotional competencies in the integral development of the child has been observed. Taking these results into account, we have considered how the development of emotional intelligence is affected during adolescence.
In 2013 the new project 'Potenciar el bienestar psicológico y la convivencia escolar en adolescentes a través de la educación en emociones: estudio longitudinal' (Promoting psychological well-being and school coexistence in adolescents through education in emotions: a longitudinal study) (PSI2013-43943-R), begins, in which an intervention programme in Emotions in public and subsidised schools in the Valencian Community has been designed and applied. The study has allowed the detection of the benefits of this programme in adolescents at a personal, school and family level. Thus, it will be possible to identify the variables on which it is beneficial to intervene in this age group. The aim is for the programme to be described rigorously, but at the same time to be simple both in its application and in the evaluation of the psychological benefits it provides.
The team works in four main related and simultaneously complementary research lines:
- Pattern Recognition Techniques, Computer Vision and its applications for different problems, mainly content-based image search, distance learning and emotion detection from video sequences.
- Processing of different types of signals, particularly audio and video ones. Group works in this research line include capture, analysis and synthesis of acoustic signals, as well as analysis of video signals, all acting in coordination with the Computer Vision line.
- Design of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) with affective capacities. Part of the results obtained from the first and second line of work are used to detect emotions from videos filmed with low-cost hardware by applying techniques specific to the fields of Signal Processing and Computer Vision.
- High-performance and high-availability computer systems offering a fundamental tool for all the previously mentioned fields (pattern recognition, intelligent systems and signal processing) by providing the necessary power in real time whenever required from application areas or in case of high system availability requirements. In this regard, the latest trends focus on distributed systems, the handling of Big Data and the so-called “cloud computing”: three fundamental aspects in the context of group investigation.
We are the "Excellence PROMETHEUS PHASE II Group" of the GVA, G24 member of the Networked Biomedical Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM-ISCIII). Since 2013 we are active partners in Europe within the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (Acción 3) Cognitive Decline Group of the European Innovation Partnership for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPAHA) Programme; we actively participate in defining a clinically useful position on Mild Cognitive Decline. We direct and coordinate the Assessment Unit for Personal Autonomy, Dependency and Mental Disorders (TMAP) located at the Faculty of Medicine UCIM-INCLIVA, with a service offer including biomechanical and neurocognitive assessments as part of the prevention of fragility signs in populations at risk. The TMAP Unit is the pioneer in carrying out and implementing assessments for patients with mental disorders and / or cognitive and functional deterioration in a comprehensive and personalised manner. These assessments are necessary to determine how people cope with everyday activities in case of disease or deterioration, and to provide them with useful information in order to apply measures allowing for an healthy and independent life.
From the group's formation in 2001 to its consolidation in 2007, work was carried out to contribute to the knowledge of cognitive and functional deficits of serious mental illnesses, with a special focus on schizophrenic and bipolar patients and their first-degree relatives. Currently, our knowledge is also focused on direct and inverse Multimorbidity in patients with complex diseases such as CNS disorders, cancer or metabolic diseases. The group can also be found in research areas such as: studies on disease burden (Global Burden of Disease studies), systematic review and networked meta-analysis, neurogenetics and cell therapy (stem cells,) and, finally, Nutritional Psychiatry.
Imaging Sciences represent a renewed research field in all its aspects, while also being a development for Physics that’s currently characterised by a frenetic scientific and innovative activity. Nowadays, the term “image” doesn’t only refer to optical imaging and its multiple techniques for analysis, rebuild and visualisation, but also to artificial, computer and three-dimensional vision, medical imaging and algorithms for image processing, among many other areas. In the last two decades, Imaging Science researches achieved a lot. There are multiple new microscopy procedures allowing to go over the classic resolution limit. The computer industry is particularly interested in the astonishing results of computer imaging techniques. The progress in obtaining images through turbid media allows to achieve good resolution for images involving, for example, deep tissue layers in living beings or the cosmos through telescopes located on the earth’s surface. The new non-invasive imaging modalities for in-vivo biologic material and the tools for the transfer of said knowledge and procedures to the study, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. The entangled photons sources in quantum photonics allow to achieve high-quality images with low-level lighting. It’s also necessary to include many other areas in full development, such as adaptive optics, nuclear medicine imaging, photonic tweezers (which are offering new paths for the individual study of cells), new generations of spatial light modulators, etc.
On the other hand, the radiation associated with femtosecond laser systems present a series of singular properties: very short duration, high peak power, high spectral width and structured spectral coherence. The combination between Diffractive and Pulse Optics enabled the design of new technological applications for the micro and nanostructuring of surfaces, the in-volume processing of transparent samples such as glass or polymers, the fluorescence multiphoton stimulation in microscopy systems and the generation of other non-lineal effects in matter, such as filamentation.
The purposes of our projects are to explore the mechanistic principles of membrane protein insertion, folding and assembly into lipid membranes and to investigate the factors that determine membrane protein stability. Our interest focuses on protein/protein-interactions relevant for maintaining tertiary and quaternary structure and function of integral membrane protein complexes. More specifically, we investigate the role of membrane-spanning domains, i.e. of transmembrane segments. The study is performed through an exhaustive investigation of glycophorin A as a model dimeric membrane protein, and from the knowledge of this system we try to understand the structure and function of the pulmonary surfactant SP-C protein, an extremely hydrophobic membrane protein.
On the other hand, we are interested in the cell-to-cell transport of plant virus. This transport process is mediated by specialized viral movement proteins, which in same cases are membrane proteins, that drive the viral genome to the cellular membrane in order to be transported into neighbouring uninfected host cells through the plasmodesmal channel. We are currently investigating the targeting and the insertion mechanisms of these viral membrane proteins into the biological membranes.
Labpsitec Valencia's research focuses mainly on the field of psychopathology, evaluation and treatment of psychological disorders, as well as on the promotion of well-being and quality of life in different populations. In the last 25 years, this group has focused on the possibilities that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can offer to Clinical and Health Psychology, and it is currently an international leader in the development and validation of ICT-based applications in this field. In this context, Labpsitec Valencia is a pioneer in the development of virtual reality (VR) applications for the treatment of emotional disorders and body image issues present in eating disorders.
Regarding the use of the Internet, Labpsitec Valencia has been working in the field of Telepsychology for 20 years, being a pioneer in integrating VR solutions in applications aimed at the treatment of various problems. The group's work within the European project "Online Predictive Tools for Intervention in Mental Illness" (OPTIMI), in which online systems for the prevention of depression are being developed, should be highlighted. This application is currently being tested within another European project (E-COMPARED). Similarly, new interventions for the promotion of resilience and the treatment of adaptive problems are being developed in another H2020-funded project (I-CARE).
Work has also been carried out on an application aimed at offering the elderly a technological solution to improve their emotional state (MAYODOMO). This solution is currently part of the European project EHCOBUTLER and forms part of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EPI- AHA). Another aspect to highlight are the developments that have been made in the field of obesity and healthy lifestyles, such as the ETIOBE platform, for the treatment of childhood obesity, or the ‘Vivir mejor’ programme, for people with hypertension and overweight problems.
The group is currently participating in the CIBER action in the area of Biomedicine and Health Sciences (www.ciberobn.es), leading one of the Ciber-OBN research groups. Labpsitec Valencia has participated in more than 50 research projects financed by regional, national and European funds. We have been the PI of the PROMOSAM Network of Excellence (PSI2014-56303-REDT) funded by the MINECO (Ministry of Economy), which has just concluded, and we are carrying out several projects funded by both the Valencian Community, the national R&D&I plan and the European Commission, as well as other projects funded by private entities. The results of all this research have been presented at national and international conferences, and have given rise to more than 200 articles published in journals with an impact index. Books and book chapters have also been published.
In general, and in summary, Labpsitec Valencia's main interest has always been in the field of Mental Health, trying to go deeply into the description and understanding of mental disorders, and in the development of effective treatments.
The Research Group on Scientific Culture (RGSC) was founded in 2002, when Journalism studies were introduced in the UV. Since the beginning, I take part in postgraduate and PhD programmes of various Spanish universities, in research areas revolving around scientific culture. In 2007, our university made an agreement with the RGSC, CIEMAT’s unit for scientific culture in Madrid, to enable research in Science and Technology Studies. This framework project includes researchers from the Universities of Oviedo, Balearic Islands, Valladolid, Salamanca and CSIC’s Institute of Philosophy. The main goal of the Research Group on Culture is the research on scientific culture, on acting as an interface mechanism between actors and on environments for the creation of scientific knowledge and the unproductive appropriation of knowledge (social demand or regulating agents, to name a few). It participates in elaborating technical forms for foundations such as FECYT through Surveys for Social Perception of Science and Technology and it’s present in numerous international congresses such as the PSCT, held every two years. The group’s project is currently financed by the National Plan and it’s titled: Analysis of institutional campaigns for vaccination against the Human Papillomavirus (CSO2011-25810). The research group focuses on the different aspects and approaches taken by the news coverage of science and technology through media.
The Social Welfare Policy Research Group, belonging to the Universitat de València (Spain), is an international reference group specialised in social research, innovation and technology, technical advice and training in the field of social policies. We develop basic and applied research with an interdisciplinary and holistic approach on economic, social, political and technical sustainability of welfare systems, advising the Administration and companies in the design, planning and implementation of resources and policies of social welfare and sustainability.
The group is made up of an interdisciplinary team led by Jorge Garcés Ferrer, Prince of Asturias Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC (USA) and 20 researchers from different disciplines at the Universitat de València. In turn, the group collaborates with entities and universities in the European Union, the United States, South America and Africa.
Vision: to improve the well-being, sustainability and quality of life of society.
Mission: to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in public policies, private entities and the third sector, by means of innovative, integral and inter-institutional proposals through a team with an interdisciplinary and multi-centre approach.
Challenge for 2030: to innovate public policies through information and communication technologies, ICTs.
The Research Group offers the best service in the area of public policy and to do so uses an interdisciplinary team, connected internationally and with a great knowledge of each area of work. Not only its source of knowledge and capacity, but also its cohesion, dynamism and way of working, allow the Group to continue growing towards excellence. The team teaches on degree courses of the Universitat de València, official Universitat de València master's degrees, own master's degrees and postgraduate courses, as well as other training courses.
Analysis of gender inequalities in the socio-economic field, both in the area of public policies and in the relations between private subjects and within organisations, using the methodological tools of legal science, sociology, economics and social work.
Researchers involved in this research group have been working for several years on the study of youth in its different sides, in the central aspects of its development and of transition to adult life.
Education, participation and work are the three fundamental dimensions on which the analysis is focused, bearing in mind all the processes related to the transition to adult life and their life trajectory's design. Labour insertion in a world of work in deep transformation, the decision to become independent and the participation in public life are the central aspects of this group's research.
The intense stage of social change that Western societies have been experiencing for several decades now requires a thorough study of its consequences on a group that will be involved in future development stages. Work transformation, globalisation, new technologies, the crisis of national representative systems and, in recent years, the economic crisis are profoundly transforming Western societies and changing the processes of socialization.
Young people represent a group of great interest in the study of society in a double sense: on the one hand, because of their current condition and because of all the processes related to socialization and preparation for adult life, such as education, training for responsible participation in political life or transition to adult life in a phase of profound change and pluralization of family structures; on the other hand, because they are the foundation of the future society. The transition from Fordist society to post-Fordist society is entailing a deep crisis in the social structures of Western societies and a progressive decline in Institutions, as Dubet teaches us. This is linked to an intensive process of individualisation, in which the individuals themselves will have to build a new social reality, new social structures capable of organising collective life in a way more suited to the new challenges. This is the main challenge that new generations have to face, and the study of these processes must therefore be focused on the study of young people, their condition and the main processes of transformation in which they are immersed.
Globalisation, on the one hand, and the process of European unification on the other hand, also impose a comparative reflection that tries to separate the specificities of concrete contexts, of common patterns, that can help to read phenomena of global transformation, such as those caused by the digital revolution or by the intensification of international mobility. None of these processes can be properly read without resorting to the use of the gender perspective to provide the analytical gaze with the appropriate richness and depth. New phenomena such as precarious work and its consequences, new life paths, new family structures, territorial mobility and new forms of communication and participation are the phenomena at the centre of the group's research activity. For an adequate development of the research activity, the group has decided to formalize the richness of its studies in 3 lines of research.
The first one is focused on the study of work and its transformation in the digital and global society. The second one is directed towards the analysis of young people's different reactions to the crisis, and not only do we refer to the recent economic recession, but also to the structural crisis that is transforming our society at a very fast pace. Finally, the third line of research aims to analyse all the processes related to the socialization of young people, from the level of primary and informal socialization to education, understood as an institutionalized process of young people's insertion into society.
Cotino (Director) has been the PI for three consecutive national projects on these issues, one focused on e-government (2005-2008), another on freedom and participation in the social web (2010-2012) and the current one on Open Government (2013-2015), a subject on which continuity is sought. The new R&D&I project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness is pending resolution. It is entitled “The progress of Open Government. Constitutional legal regime of the implementation of transparency policies, access to information, open data, collaboration and participation, especially through ICTs and e-government” DER2015-65810-P (pending resolution). Cotino is also PI. The results are more than evident, both on the web and in hundreds of publications and papers. Besides some readjustments, this time the internationalisation is boosted by strengthening the foreign team. All the members of the team have worked and cooperated actively in recent years.
This UV group also includes two members who are not part of the Ministry’s project, two point researchers in Spain, Fernández Salmerón and Valero Torrijos, from Administrative Law.
The legal treatment of contents and freedoms on the Internet, liability of providers, hate speech, limits, censorship, etc. will continue to be addressed. On the other hand, given the relatively ethereal concept of open government and the predominance of other disciplines, a constitutional legal treatment is needed to legally decant, sediment and distil all these changes and advances that have just taken place in the last few years with respect to the contents of the concept of Open Government (transparency, participation, collaboration, open data, etc.) and its projection in the legal framework as well as the fundamental rights that are involved. Continuity is sought as we are at a crucial moment in the development of the Open Government. We are on the culmination of a process of fundamentalising the right to transparency and access to public information. This process has not been completed neither by the ECHR, nor the CJEU, nor, especially, by our Constitutional Court and Supreme Court. It is going to be especially important to analyse the interpretation by data protection authorities, transparency authorities, ombudsmen with jurisdiction over this area, and, of course, the ordinary and constitutional courts.
The aim is to analyse and monitor both the application of the transparency law and new administrative laws and reform of the law on re-use, the decree implementing the law on transparency, 2015, as well as the wave of regional laws in the 2013-2015 period in the autonomous community.
Beyond the mere normative analysis, it is a matter of taking into account the practical implementation and policies of open government policies, especially in Spain at the different town, region and state levels. It is a booming issue in 2015-16 in Spain. However, given the transnational nature of the phenomenon, it will also be monitored from a comparative and supranational European and Latin American perspective.
The aim is not only to analyse the constitutional legal development of open government, but also, as far as possible, to influence it on the different legal operators.
It has a solid experience in the dissemination of high quality legal content in classic formats (more than nine collective works and ten congresses), partly through www.derechotics.com or the Cyberlaw clinic and highly visible Twitter profiles of some of the members. In addition to generating and disseminating academic knowledge, it will be conducted an observatory of e-administration 2.0, an analysis of websites of Spanish and international reference; a document of practical legal recommendations and precautions.
