Joan Guàrdia is elected rector of the University of Barcelona
Joan Guàrdia is the new rector of the University of Barcelona, after obtaining the 54.28% of the weighted voting in the second round of the election to the Rectorʼs Office, which took place on December 17 and 18. The other candidate, Joan Elias, obtained the 45.72% of the weighted voting. Guàrdia will head the government of the University for a 4-year mandate. In the first round, candidate Joan Guàrdia obtained 49.65% of the weighted vote, and Joan Elias obtained the 32.56%.
Joan Guàrdia is the new rector of the University of Barcelona, after obtaining the 54.28% of the weighted voting in the second round of the election to the Rectorʼs Office, which took place on December 17 and 18. The other candidate, Joan Elias, obtained the 45.72% of the weighted voting. Guàrdia will head the government of the University for a 4-year mandate. In the first round, candidate Joan Guàrdia obtained 49.65% of the weighted vote, and Joan Elias obtained the 32.56%.
In his first speech as elected rector, Joan Guàrdia noted he counts on the whole university community regarding the task he has to carry out: “Weʼll start working tomorrow and I count on everyoneʼs support”. He mentioned all the university collectives: AdSS, students -to whom he will listen carefully-, and TRS, a collective on which he will work on in order to end up with the teaching staff precariousness. “We have to have an UB open to the world”, highlighted the elected rector, and also mentioned the need to continue working on excellence.
The elections, which have been held though electronic voting for the first time, due to COVID-19, have been carried out with no incidents. More than 54,000 people from different university collectives were called to vote. 13,668 electors have voted, accounting for the 25.13% of the total, a higher participation than in the first round, which was of 21.56%. In the second round of the last elections, held in 2016, 13.76% of the census voted, and a 16.10% in the first round.
Out of the emitted votes during these two days of electronic voting, 13.127 were given to the candidates, 541 were blank votes.
Joan Guàrdia Olmos is a professor of Methodology of Behavioural Sciences at the Faculty of Psychology. He arrived at the University of Barcelona as a student of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and combined these studies with Psychology. Expert on statistics and the systematic study of human behaviour, he has taught at the Faculty of Psychology, as well as the faculties of Pharmacy, Economics and Business, Geography and History, Nursing, Education and Biology.
He has given seminars and courses and has supervised doctoral theses in several national and international universities. He has published more than 30 books and more than 260 science articles, apart from being the principal researcher of many research projects. Guàrdia has held several positions in academic management and is now member of the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB and the Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), where he does research on quantitative and computational neuroscience.
For further information, please visit the website of Rector's Office Election 2020.