Six UAB researchers awarded RecerCaixa grants
21/02/2018
The 20 selected projects are led by researchers from 18 different research centres and universities in Catalonia: 5 work in the area of public policies, 6 in the humanities and culture area, 5 work towards social inclusion and 4 in education. The role of ethics in robotics, the effect of pollution on the cognitive capacities of adolescents and gender violence prevention are some of the topics being studied by the researchers selected in this call.
The UAB researcher projects selected are the following:
Ethics for Robot Caretakers
Miquel Domènech Argemí, Department of Social Psychology.
The project aims to provide an ethical framework for the design and use of social robots in the health care sector. In addition to industrial robotics, current research conducted in this field guarantees that there will be a progressive incorporation of robots into the daily lives of people which will carry out all types of tasks, including that of caring for humans. Under this context, new forms of human-machine interactions appear and with them, the need to reflect upon the ethical code accompanying the development of such technology. This projects takes on an interdisciplinary approach in order to study the opportunities and risks these new interactions may imply. With the aim of identifying and preventing any unwanted futures and, at the same time, foster optimal ones, researchers have set up a reflection on the ethical dimension of this process from an empirical and contextualised perspective which integrates the different social groups and actors involved.
AppPhil. Philosophy Applied to Design and Based on Social Network App Values
Pilar Dellunde Clavé, Department of Philosophy, and Nardine Osman, Institute of Artificial Intelligence Research, CSIC
The objective of this project is to develop new technology for social networks which incorporates into its process philosophical and ethical reflections, and design a methodology which allows ethical values to be present in the technology, all the while permitting the communities using this technology to participate in its design and propose social values. Two communities participate in the project: the Single Parent Association of Catalonia and the network of volunteers of the UAB's Solidarity Foundation (FAS). The main innovations include the participation of people dedicated to philosophy and the social sciences in the same process as the development of technology, and that the communities which these technologies are meant for will be the co-creator of new applications.
Education Models for the 0 to 3 Age Period and Participation in the Labour Market: Innovation Study on the City of Barcelona
Raquel Gallego Calderón, Department of Political Science and Public Law.
In the past few years, the traditional institutionalised educational offer for children aged 0 to 3 has witnessed the incorporation of innovative alternative models. What are the characteristics of these models? How are they distributed throughout Barcelona's various districts? What types of families choose each option and why? These are some of the questions included in this study which is based on the hypothesis that families choose one model or the other according to a series of factors. Thes objective here is to identify the importance of each of the factors leading to a final decision. The political decisions taken in this area have a great social impact on different sectors: education, gender equality, immigration, the job market, equality and (un)equal opportunities, etc. The study this will allow to identify the public policy tools which could condition and directly affect the decisions made by mothers and fathers.
Virtual Reality to Prevent Bullying in the Classroom
Narcís Cardoner Álvarez, Parc Taulí Health Corporation and Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, and Miguel Barreda Ángeles, EURECAT
It is estimated that 1 out of every 4 children in Spain suffer harassment at school, which can lead to serious consequences ranging from school failure to health problems. The main objective of this project is to study the possibilities of adding virtual reality in the classrooms, as a tool to foster empathy among students and reduce the amount of school harassment. An innovative use for this technology is proposed, based on the co-creation of contents by students, as well as a new approach to measuring its efficacy, based on neuroscientific methods. Possible benefits for society include the development of educational interventions to help reduce the prevalence of harassment, and also boost the acceptance of virtual reality as a tool which among other things, can help improve one's cognitive and emotional abilities.
Citizen Science for the Analysis of the Effects of Pollution on the Cognitive Functions of Adolescents
Digna Couso Lagarón, CRECIM-UAB and Department of Teaching of Mathematics and Experimental Sciences, and Xavier Basagaña Flores, ISGlobal.
The aim of this project is to study whether atmospheric contamination can affect the attention span of adolescents. The main innovation consists in the experimental design of the project, in contrast to the existing evidence stemming from observational studies. Ninth-grade classes will be divided into two groups. Both will take an attention test, one in a classroom equipped with an air purifier, and the other in a normal classroom.Comparing the results of the two groups will reveal whether pollution affects attention. The study will be conducted from a citizen science perspective. Students will play a prominent role in the different stages of the research and will conduct parellel studies on the quality of air, which will help them understand the experiment they are participating in and also allow them to share it with their community.
Building Resilience in Women: a social neuroscientific approach to preventing the effects of partner violence
Antonio Armario García, Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, and Ximena Goldberg Hermo, Parc Taulí Foundation.
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most common and alarming form of violence against women, affecting up to 25% of all women in Catalonia. This project adopts an innovative perspective in the field of neuroscience to work on the identification of vulnerabilities acquired as a consequence of violence, both inthe area of social interactions and in the processing of neuroendocrine activity. It also incorporates qualtitative research tools to generate learning resources proposed by the women participants. The main contirbution of this project is to further in the creation of recovery and empowerment strategies among women who have been victims of violence, generating long-lasting and healthy impacts on their daily lives.
The awarding of the grants took place at the event celebrated on 21 February at the Cosmocaixa, with the attendance of representatives of the “la Caixa” Bank Foundation, the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP), the Recercaixa programme, the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency and the Secretary of Universities and Research of the Department of Business and Knowledge, Government of Catalonia.
The event included the presentation of three of the projects selected in this edition. One of the three, entitled “Ethics for Robot Caretakers”, was presented by Professor of the UAB Miquel Domènech.