Two UPC students have received Unite! Awards

As part of the XII Unite! Dialogue, held at Aalto (Finland), the Unite! Awards were presented to recognise the dedication of individuals and teams from each of the member universities of the alliance. In this edition, Milica Zivanic and Pau Maza were recognised for their contribution and involvement in the development of the European alliance from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC).

At the award ceremony, which took place on 8 October during the closing ceremony of the XII Unite! Dialogue at Aalto University (Finland), the secretary general of the alliance, Andreas Winkler, highlighted the key role played by Pau Maza and Milica Zivanic in the creation of Sure! and “how they have made an outstanding contribution to building the alliance from the students’ perspective, with active and committed participation from the beginning as Sure! representatives in the alliance’s governing bodies and in promoting Unite! at external events.”

Milica Zivanic holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from Technische Universität München (Germany) and a PhD in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering from the UPC, under a joint supervision agreement with Universiteit Antwerpen (Belgium). She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering Research Group of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the UPC. Milica highlights the value of this international experience: “I really enjoy being part of Unite!’s international, interdisciplinary and proactive environment. It has been very inspiring to see how our critical discussions, involving both teachers and students, turn into initiatives that improve the educational experience. I’m happy to know I’ve been able to contribute to this great project.”

For his part, Pau Maza holds a degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering from the Escola Superior d'Enginyeries Industrial, Aeroespacial i Audiovisual de Terrassa (ESEIAAT). He has been involved in various representative bodies at his school and at the UPC, serving as coordinator of the Student Council, member of the University Senate, the Development Cooperation Council and the Quality Committee, among others. He has also been a member of the executive committee of the Consell d'Estudiants de Catalunya and has been part of Unite! since November 2021. For Pau, “being part of the Unite! initiative from the UPC students’ perspective has been a unique and transformative experience. It has not only allowed us to participate in a far-reaching European project but has also placed us at the heart of building a more open, innovative and future-oriented university model. Our involvement in creating the student representation system within the alliance has been key: we have been able to give students a voice in decision-making, establish permanent participation channels and demonstrate that students’ active involvement is essential to ensure a truly democratic and people-centred European university. This experience has given us a broader vision of what it means to be a student today and, at the same time, has strengthened our commitment to the university community and to the UPC as a driving force for this change.”

With this recognition, the UPC reaffirms its commitment to the active participation of students within the Unite! alliance — a project that continues to grow and is consolidating itself as a European collaboration space for a more innovative, inclusive and transformative university.

New UPC student representatives in the alliance

The new UPC student representatives in the alliance will be Martina Masana-Massip, a Bachelor’s student in Data Science and Engineering, Pau Morente, a Computer Engineering student at FIB, together with Rachel LeBlanc, a doctoral candidate in Biomedical Engineering in the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering (BBT) group.