A large share of scientific research is funded with public money, yet only a small proportion is ever communicated to society. A new study by the Institut de Neurociències of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) and the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) shows that research centres and universities need to actively promote their findings if they want them to reach the news media.
A study by the UAB and the UOC published in the scientific journal PNAS reviews the biological nature of one of the last great plagues in Western Europe in the 19th century - the plague outbreak in Mallorca in 1820. The research helps to better understand how the disease circulated and was transmitted, the evolution of outbreaks and the importance of confinement.
The School of Peace Culture (ECP) of the UAB has published Peace Negotiations 2025. Analysis of trends and scenarios, its annual report on the global situation of peace negotiations. The analysis shows that 53 peace processes were registered in 2025, the highest number in recent years. In addition, in 55% of current armed conflicts (22 out of 40) there were processes of dialogue and negotiation. Despite this increase in negotiations, an increase in conflict was detected in a context of increased armed conflicts and tensions around the world.
"To subjugate a woman, you need to transform her into a witch or a witch", explains the professor and researcher in Modern History at the UAB Montserrat Jiménez, and she argues this scientifically in her new book Brujas y marujas (UAB Publications Service), which she has just published. This essay connects history, misogyny, symbolic violence and contemporary culture, establishing links between the witches of yesterday and the discourses that still today devalue some groups.
"To subjugate a woman, you need to transform her into a witch or a witch", explains the professor and researcher in Modern History at the UAB Montserrat Jiménez, and she argues this scientifically in her new book Brujas y marujas (Publicacions de la UAB), which she has just published. This essay connects history, misogyny, symbolic violence and contemporary culture, establishing links between the witches of yesterday and the discourses that still today devalue some groups.
"To subjugate a woman, you need to transform her into a witch or a witch", explains the professor and researcher in Modern History at the UAB Montserrat Jiménez, and she argues this scientifically in her new book Brujas y marujas (Publicacions de la UAB), which she has just published. This essay connects history, misogyny, symbolic violence and contemporary culture, establishing links between the witches of yesterday and the discourses that still today devalue some groups.
Exposure to wildfires during pregnancy has negative effects on infant health, according to a study recently published by the Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) at the UAB in the journal Perspectives Demogràfiques . Based on 3.4 million births in Spain between 2008 and 2021, the research identifies two mechanisms: stress and air pollution caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) carried by smoke. One effect is a 10% increase in the likelihood of low birth weight. Another effect is an increase in preterm births.
Homeless people, victims of domestic violence and economically vulnerable people are at a higher risk of suffering social exclusion. For them, pets are a great source of emotional support. A study by the Affinity Foundation Chair for Animals and Health of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the FAADA Foundation, published in the Frontiers in Psychology journal, highlights the importance of this support from a multidimensional perspective, drawing on the experiences of 100 individuals in situations of vulnerability.
The co-publication by the UAB Publication Service and the UB Editions entitled Literatura catalana de la postmodernitat (volumes I and II) was awarded the Joan Lluís Vives Award for University Publications 2026 for best book in the Arts & Humanities category. These awards, which annually recognise the best works published by the member universities of the Vives Network of Universities, were presented on 3 July at the University of Perpignan Via Domitia. The authors of the work are lecturers at the UAB.
The UAB School for a Culture of Peace publishes today its annual report—one of the main yearbooks in Spain on conflictivity, human rights and peacebuilding. The report identifies 40 wars currently existing in the world, the highest figure in the past decade, and warns about the increase of international conflicts and humanitarian consequences.
The 8th Teaching Innovation Conference of the UAB ended today with the presentation of the Teaching Excellence Awards, which this year incorporated for the first time a collective category, in which the Transnatura group received the award. Marta González, lecturer in the Department of Physics, was awarded in the individual category. The rector of the UAB, Javier Lafuente, stated that “quality teaching has a great impact on the student’s learning process” and is “fundamental” for the University.
Coinciding with the awards ceremony at the UAB of the first edition of the Catalonia Open Science Awards in the institutional category, the University aims to give researchers a voice through a new survey.
