Defenses de tesi

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Event details

•  Start: 10 Jun 2026  13:00
•  End: 10 Jun 2026  14:30
•  iHC Seminar room

In this Work in Progress (WiP) seminar, Hèctor Isern examines ocean monitoring systems in Europe between 1977 and 1992, and the role that satellite data played in this period. More specifically, it analyses the production, distribution, and use of data through the case of ERS-1, the European Space Agency's first major Earth-observation satellite, launched in 1991. More broadly, this work foregrounds the question of how satellite data became a powerful tool in late twentieth-century ocean and climate science, contributing to the production of knowledge that often appeared authoritative and uncontested. By the close of the twentieth century, ocean monitoring systems had become firmly consolidated in Europe, with satellite data forming one of their fundamental components while also providing one of the key rationales for their continued expansion. The dissertation tackles the question of how satellite data came to function as a sine qua non.

In short, Isern's argument is that satellite data co-produced and reproduced old and new data-related practices. The notion of encapsulation helps explain this reciprocal process. Satellite data paved the way for the expansion of ocean monitoring systems because they encapsulated and mobilised a broader constellation of old and new elements. Satellite data concealed the instruments, algorithms, standards, processing chains, labour, institutional arrangements, and political expectations that made them possible. As these data products were distributed, they did not merely depict the ocean; they also co-produced and reproduced the very practices through which ocean monitoring systems expanded. In other words, data never travels alone.

Commentator: Xavier Roqué (UAB)

Hèctor Isern is a PhD student working on the ERC-SG project «CLIMASAT: Remote-sensing satellite data and the making of global climate in Europe, 1980s–2000s». Her academic background includes a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences (UB), a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy (UB), a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering (UPC), and a Master's degree in the History of Science (UAB). Her research interests include the history of Earth observation satellites, the relationship between science and diplomacy, the history of data, the history of technology, and environmental history.

If you are interested in reading the entire text in advance —highly recommended, since the WiP seminar format presupposes prior reading— you can request it from Hector.Isern@uab.cat or Laia.Torres.Casas@uab.cat

Remember that you can bring your lunch on site, as we will have a lunch-seminar format, rigorous and informal at the same time.

Place: iHC Seminar room

Date: Thursday 11, June2026 - 13:00h

End date: Thursday 11, June2026 - 14:30h

Description:

PerCientEx (Scientific Journalism of Excellence) returns to the CosmoCaixa Science Museum on 11 June at 6:00 p.m. On its tenth anniversary, the PerCientEx project focuses on watchdog science journalism, one of the most necessary aspects of journalism to guarantee the integrity of science.

Registrations open at this link.

The project is coordinated by the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication (ACCC) and the Department of Communication and Education of the UAB, and receives the support of the “laCaixa” Foundation.  

The event will bring together Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Mexican journalist from Science who has investigated abuses at university; Mira Petrovic, researcher at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), who alerted about corrupt practices; and Pilar Paneque, director of the National Agency for Quality and Accreditation (ANECA), who is promoting new ways to encourage scientific quality and discourage bad practices.

The speakers will discuss how scientific journalism can contribute to promoting integrity and contrasting bad scientific practices. In addition, during the event, new results and a set of examples of watchdog science journalism in the Ibero-American field will be presented.

More information: The role of scientific journalism against bad practices and in favor of the integrity of science is the focus of the tenth edition of the PerCientEx conference.

Place: CosmoCaixa Science Museum

Date: Thursday 11, June2026 - 18:00h

Description:

On 17 June at 11:00 a.m., the Research Group on Immigration and Ethnic Minorities (GEDIME) and the Migration Studies and Research Centre of the UAB organise a sesssion entitled "Refugi a Espanya: negligència, arbitrarietat i desemparament en un sistema col·lapsat" [Asylum in Spain: negligence, arbitrariness and abandonment in a collapsed system]. The session will take place at the meeting room of the UAB Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology and aims to analyse from a critical viewpoint the current situation of the asylum and refugee system in Spain. Focus will be put on institutional negligences, administrative arbitrariness, and the abandonment of those seeking international protection.

The conference will be given by Arnau Poy, lecturer in sociology at the UAB. Poy will reflect onthe social, political and legal consequences of a collapsed system, as well as on the obstacles encountered by refugees when trying to access their rights, when applying for asylum and in receiving effective protection.

Place: Faculty of Political Science and Sociology (meeting room)

Date: Wednesday 17, June2026 - 11:00h

Description:

On 18 June at 4:00 p.m., the UAB will be holding the awards ceremony for the 23rd Argó Awards in the category of upper secondary school research papers. The event will take place at the UAB Auditorium, located at the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. The Argó Awards, organised by the Institute for Education Studies (ICE), were created to acknowledge the effort and quality of research work by upper secondary school students from educational centres in Catalonia. The aim is to facilitate the transition to higher education and strengthen the links between the university and educational centrer in the region.

In this category, the awards are given in different fields of knowledge: arts and humanities, sciences, health sciences, social and legal sciences, biosciences, and engineering. The verdict will be made public on 3 June on the ICE website.

Place: UAB Auditorium (Faculty of Arts & Humanities)

Date: Thursday 18, June2026 - 16:30h

Description:

The Amics UAB organises a new edition of its Summer Solstice Party. The activity will take place at the Torre Vila-Puig on 18 June at 7:00 p.m. Those interested in attending should to register here. 

The solstice party will be dedicated to peace, diversity and the role of culture as a mechanism for social transformation, and is inspire by the musician Pau Casals, who stands as a universal symbol of commitment to human rights. The evening will include several activities: a performance by the cello and guitar duo Clarobscur, a theatrical and multilingual reading of Pau Casals' speech to the United Nations, the creation of a time capsule with wishes for peace, and the recording of audiovisual messages for the future.

Place: Torre Vila-Puig (Amics UAB headquarters)

Date: Thursday 18, June2026 - 19:00h

End date: Thursday 18, June2026 - 21:00h

Description:

The research group Mediation, Interpreting and Research in the Social Field (MIRAS) organises the 10th Catalan Public Services Interpreting Conference, focused this year on intercultural communication mediated by interpreters in the health field.  

The programme offers a set of training activities and debates such as practical workshops, conferences and applied analysis sessions, among which the plenary conference "Overcoming language barriers in the provision of health services in the US" stands out, given by Cindy Roat, pioneer of health interpreting in the US. There will also be a training course for health personnel, given by Sofía García, Mattea Jean, and Helena Villares, lecturer, researcher and student, respectively, of translation and interpreting at the UAB.

La jornada clourà amb una sèrie de sessions en què es presentaran els resultats del projecte CIMAS i amb un debat en què intervindran diversos perfils professionals involucrats en la Comunicació Intercultural Mediada, moderat per Mireia Vargas-Urpí, professora agregada del Departament de Traducció i d'Interpretació i d'Estudis de l'Àsia Oriental.

MIRAS lliurarà un certificat oficial de formació a totes aquelles persones que assisteixin a la formació de la jornada. La inscripció, gratuïta, es pot fer en aquest enllaç fins el 10 de juny. 

Place: Aula 114, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona (Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 119)

Date: Friday 19, June2026 - 09:30h