Theme: Engineering the Planetary Wellbeing

Planetary Wellbeing. With all the technological advancements and cultural changes, global society is facing major challenges affecting the wellbeing of humans, animals and the planet itself.

The aim of this project is to organize a TED talk at UPF's campus to expose some of the main challenges and solutions the planet is, or will be, facing in the near future and that can be related to the biomedical engineering field. The talks will be centered around: the future of the planet, the alimentation, the medicine, the housing and the need to grow a new mentality.

We want to create a space where different professionals can share their recent and most interesting thoughts and discoveries.

The health of the planet is a recent growing topic that has lots of potential, and biomedical engineering tools have a great power to contribute to the good path.

Auditori del Campus Poblenou
Roc Boronat, 138
Barcelona, Barcelona (ca), 08018
Spain

Laura Batlle

Service Manager in Circular Economy at Anthesis Lavola

Laura Batlle Bayer is currently Service Manager in Circular Economy at Anthesis Lavola, leading consulting projects on sustainability. She is an Agricultural engineer with a MSc from Wageningen University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cantabria. She has been a researcher at the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change from ESCI-UPF; leading research projects related to food systems. She has published more than 30 scientific articles, and she has been lecturer in the Postgraduate Course in Sustainability Transition and Climate Emergency Management from ESCI-UPF. Ultimately, she has also experience within the business sector as a Senior Sustainability Manager at Heura foods, a plant-based food start-up located in Barcelona. With Laura’s talk, we will explore the environmental impacts of current food systems and which actions we need to take towards a more sustainable and resilient food systems.

Lela Melón

Lecturer - GNMI Academic Coordinator - Researcher of the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change

Lela Mélon is a former Marie Curie Research Fellow with a legal and economics background. She is currently executive director of the Planetary Wellbeing Institutional Framework at UPF and associate professor of Sustainability in Business Law at ESCI-UPF. She specialises in EU law, with a focus on corporate conduct and sustainability, and is currently researching policy coherence for sustainability at EU level, with particular interest in corporate law policies.

Manuel Portela

Consultor e investigador en innovación urbana, justicia algorítimica y ética de datos

European Doctorate in GeoInformatics. Researching from the Social Studies of Technology (STS), Urban Studies, Human Geography, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Design and innovation services. Consultant in smart cities, specializing in participation. Seeking to develop improved public policies related to technology and society in cities. Expert evaluator at the Smart City Expo World Congress. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona under the ALOHA project, conducting research in Machine Learning, Explainable Artificial Intelligence, and Algorithmic Fairness.

Ricard Solé

PHYSICIST AND BIOLOGIST

Ricard Solé is a research professor at ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) and currently works at UPF, where he directs the Complex Systems Laboratory at the PRBB. He holds degrees in both Physics and Biology from the University of Barcelona and earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the UPC . He is also an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute (New Mexico, USA) and the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. His research has been supported by various institutions in Europe and the United States, including the McDonnell Foundation and ERC Advanced Grants. One of his main research interests is to understand the origins and evolution of complexity in natural and artificial systems, including the space of possible cognitions and what he calls "liquid brains." In recent years, he has spearheaded new research focused on the "terraforming" of ecosystems in danger of collapse, using both mathematical models and experimental studies based on synthetic biology.

Roser Sanchez-Todo

Directora de recerca de Neuroelectrics

Director of Research at Neuroelectrics, a creative and high-tech company that provides non-invasive, high-definition electrical brain stimulation technology for personalized neuromodulation. She leads a transdisciplinary research team (physicists, mathematicians, and engineers) working to transform science into clinical solutions based on personalized digital models of patients' brains (neurotwins). With a background in biomedical engineering specializing in computational neuroscience, she is working towards a Ph.D. at UPF on the topic "Digital Twins for Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Based on Models in Alzheimer's Disease."

Vicente Guallart

Chief architect of the city of Barcelona and general director of Urban Habitat since 2011

Guallart have been founder of Guallart Architects and of Institute of Advanced Architecture in Catalunya. Pioneer of interaction between nature, technology and architecture proposes new paradigms based in urban, social and cultural conditions emerging from information society,he crosses boundaries through collaborations in geology, sociology, engineering, fabrication, economics, and software design merging architecture, nature and new technology. His projects follow a "natural" logic, referring to components originating in nature, as well as to environmental systems. A logic that connects nature with the transformations of urban spaces, social organizations, and the digital world. His most relevant and recent projects includes Sociópolis in Valencia, Sharing Bloks in Gandía, Fugee Port and Keelung Port in Taiwan. He is author of Geologics (Actar), and co-author of the Metapolis dictionary of Advanced Architecture and Hypercatalonia.