This Tuesday ECOBAS was officially presented as an Interuniversity Research Center in the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences of the University of Vigo.

After more than five years working as a strategic partnership, ECOBAS enters a new phase, starting with the ratification of the commitment of the research staff by its Board of Regents, made up of the rectors and people in charge of research at the three Galician universities. Although this ratification took place at the end of April, the celebration of this event had to be delayed as the appointment of the rectorial team of the University of Vigo had to be made official due to the elections that took place at the beginning of spring.

The meeting began with a research seminar on Economics and Health given by Beatriz González López-Valcárcel, professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, one of the leading national experts in this field. At the end of this conference, the Institutional presentation of the Center began with a warm welcome by the Director of the Center, Carlos Hervés, who expressed his gratitude for the attendance to all the people present in the room, and who wanted to emphasize the reflection made a few minutes before by Professor González, pointing out that ‘in research it is preferable to cooperate rather than to compete’.

Subsequently, Manuel Reigosa, Rector of the University of Vigo, who presided the panel, accompanied by the dean of the faculty and representatives of the other two Galician universities, who came to Vigo to attend the event, took the floor. The Rector handed the stage to María Loureiro, scientific director of ECOBAS, who shared with the audience the scientific agenda and the strategic plan of this “new ECOBAS 2.0”, as she stated, and presented the activities that the Center is currently developing, as well as a summary of the achievements made by the research staff so far.

The closing of the event was given by the Rector of the University of Vigo, Manuel Joaquín Reigosa, the Vice Rector of Digital Transformation and Innovation of the University of Santiago de Compostela, Gumersindo Feijóo, and the Rector of the University of A Coruña, Julio E. Abalde. All three wanted to emphasize the importance of Galician universities betting on the establishment of interuniversity research centers, highly qualified to compete internationally, and the need to work in a coordinated manner and with common goals to contribute to their success.

In the afternoon, the members of the Center participated in their first work session, where they had the opportunity to talk about how the Center operates, the steps that are being taken, and the opportunity to start sharing suggestions and ideas to further establish ECOBAS as a research center of reference in the field of social sciences.