Simona Škrabec, new dean of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting

The team of the new dean will be formed by Carme Mangiron, academic secretary and vice dean for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies; Lupe Romero, vice dean for Alumni; Christian Olalla, vice dean for Academic Planning and Quality; Antonio Paoliello, vice dean for Internationalisation and coordinator of the bachelor's degree in Spanish and Chinese Studies: Language, Literature and Culture; Gonzalo Iturregui, vice dean for Professionalisation and coordinator of end-of-degree projects; Ester Torres, coordinator of the bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies; Jordi Mas, coordinator of the bachelor's degree in Translation and Interpretatign; and Marià Plou, secretary of the Dean's Office.

Škrabec received her PhD in literary theory and comparative literature from the UAB. She is an adjunct professor in the field of German language, direct translation from German and cultural mediation. She has taught as visiting professor at Stanford University, the Intercultural University of Chiapas, and the University of Leipzig. She has participated in or directed research on the situation of literary translation in a globalised world, on cultural exchanges between Germany and Catalonia during the 20th century, on the publishing industry in minority languages, and on the promotion of literature in indigenous languages.

She founded and was editor of PEN Català's digital journal Visat, director of the journal L'Avenç and editor of the UAB journal Quaderns de Traducció. From 2014 to 2020 she was chair of the Linguistic Rights and Translation Committee of PEN International. She has translated more than forty books, both by Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian authors into Catalan and Spanish, as well as contemporary Catalan authors into Slovenian. She is author of the books L'estirp de la solitud (Josep Carner Literary Theory Award), L'atzar de la lluita, Una pàtria prestada, El desig d'ordre and Torno del bosc amb les mans tenyides, as well as numerous short stories published in anthologies. In 2020 she received the Janko Lavrin Award from the Slovenian Literary Translators' Association and in 2022 she was awarded by the Ramon Llull Foundation of Andorra.

Škrabec takes over from Professor Olga Torres, dean of the Faculty from 2022 to 2025, and is the first dean of the center under the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU), with a system of elections by universal suffrage and weighted voting. The LOSU establishes that the term of office of the holders of elected unipersonal bodies is, in all cases, six years, non-renewable and non-extendable.