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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is one of the major public universities in Spain. It is located in Bellaterra, very close to Barcelona. Currently, the University offers 85 undergraduate courses, covering a wide range of fields such as humanities and arts, social sciences, health sciences, technology and physical sciences. Furthermore, the UAB offers 130 official Master’s degrees, as well as 3 Erasmus Mundus Master's degrees and one doctorate Erasmus Mundus; more than 522 Ph. D. Dissertations have been elaborated within its doctoral programs. The University has over 45.500 students, almost 3.615 researchers and teaching staff, and it hosts more than 6400 foreign students.
The UAB is the leading Spanish university according with the QS ranking 2012 is ranked 176rd in the world according to the QS- ranking 2012. In 2009 was awarded with the label of Campus of International Excellence by the Spanish Minister of Education.
The UAB is recognized internationally for its quality and innovation in research. It coordinates a potent scientific and technological centre (the Esfera UAB -UAB phere-), which comprises all the departments, science and technology services, research centres, institutes and university hospitals that are members of the UAB. The University is therefore a breeding ground for quality researchers and a centre for the dissemination of knowledge and technologies, and it plays a leading role in scientific research. Its main areas of investigation include Biotechnology and Biomedicine (including the vital contribution made through the clinical research carried out at associate hospitals), Animal Health, Food Technology and Safety, Environmental Sciences and Technology, Nanotechnology, Microelectronics, Material Science and Engineering, Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Experimental Sciences, Social Sciences, and research in Humanities. This wide range of disciplines integrated into a single area help to promote multi-disciplinarity in research.
Regarding the UAB’s research activity the following data stands out: 2239 articles published in indexed journals (2011 WOK-ISI); 383 research agreements; 337 research national projects; 216 patents applied for in 2008-2012 and 65 spin-off companies hosted at UAB’s Research Park.
UAB participates in 150 projects of the 7FP, acting as a coordinator for 14 of them and received more than 38 million Euros of funding. UAB is currently hosting 6 excellent projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC Starting and Advance Grants). Furthermore, UAB participates in 110 European research projects outside the 7FP DG EAC projects, LIFE, CORES, ESF, NATO etc). European research contracts are managed by the International Research Office (OPIR), run on behalf of the Vice-Rectorate for Research. This Office has wide experience in managing research projects. Given the University's research management infrastructure, the UAB is undoubtedly prepared to meet all the specific needs of the project team. It has already provided adequate working space and will provide all the necessary technological and intellectual support. We will have at our disposal an experienced administration staff, which can carry out all the necessary administrative and financial management tasks.