The General Secretary and the Coordinator of NeurotechEU visit the UMH and the Institute for Neurosciences

14 de July de 2025

During 9th and 10th July, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) welcomed the General Secretary of the European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU), Mark Vlek de Coningh, along with the Alliance Coordinator, Richard van Wezel. This visit underscores the UMH's role as a member of this alliance of European universities dedicated to creating a transnational neurotechnology campus.

Mr Vlek de Coningh and Mr Van Wezel were received by the UMH rector, Juan José Ruiz; the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Cooperation, Vicente Micol; the Vice-Rector for Studies, Susana Fernández de Ávila; the Director of the International Relations Service, Inmaculada Blaya; and the lead at NeurotechEU at UMH and Director of the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the UMH and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Juana Gallar.

With the aim of strengthening collaborative ties, reviewing project progress, and outlining future strategies within the NeurotechEU framework, the General Secretary and the Alliance Coordinator attended a series of meetings with the Alliance's management team at the UMH. The NeurotechEU management team at the UMH comprises project managers Maria José Such, an expert in quality assurance, and Sonia Martín; finance manager Alicia Sanavio; student activities manager Sandra Manzanero; and communication officer Júlia Santacreu.

Furthermore, the meeting was attended by UMH staff involved in promoting mobility among the alliance's partner universities: the Deputy Vice-Rector for Institutional Positioning and Rankings, José Manuel Blanes; the Deputy Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, Alberto Martínez; and the International Mobility Expert, Mónica Candela.

During the visit, they also met with various UMH professors involved in creating NeurotechEU's teaching content: Physiology professors and IN researchers María del Carmen Acosta, Francisco Martini, and Víctor Meseguer; Physiotherapy professor and Director of the Translational Research Centre in Physiotherapy, María del Carmen Lillo; and Systems Engineering professors Eduardo Iáñez and Mario Ortiz. They also visited the IN CSIC-UMH, accompanied by one of its deputy directors, Santiago Canals, who leads the Plasticity of Brain Networks laboratory, and by researcher Silvia De Santis, who heads the Translational Imaging Biomarkers laboratory. They also visited the Brain-Machine Interface Systems Lab, guided by its director, José María Azorín.

To conclude their visit, Mr Vlek de Coningh and Mr Van Wezel had the opportunity to speak with the Rector's Delegate for Digital Transformation, Federico Botella, who contributes to the development of Campus+, NeurotechEU's educational platform, and with the Rector's Delegate for Healthy Campuses and Sport, Raúl Reina, who participates in NeurotechEU's equality, diversity, and integration activities.

Finally, to gain a better understanding of some of the UMH's services, the Secretary General and NeurotechEU Coordinator visited the Cyborg Centre with its director, Fernando Borrás, and the Scientific Park with Oleksiy Oprysnyk, technician of the Business Growth Area at the Scientific Park.

NeurotechEU is a university alliance funded by the European Commission that aims to enhance the education and training of future professionals and researchers in neurotechnology, to provide solutions to health problems related to neuroscience and mental health through accessible technologies. In addition to the UMH, the NeurotechEU Alliance is currently composed of seven other European universities: Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the University of Bonn (Germany), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Romania), the University of Lille (France), and Reykjavik University (Iceland).

Source and images: NeurotechEU UMH (neurotecheu@umh.es)