NeurotechEU holds its 12th Board of Rectors and General Assembly

13 de November de 2026

UMH delegation attending the 12th NeurotechEU General Assembly. Credit: NeurotechEU.

Under the motto ‘Connected Brains, Connected Europe’, the European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU) held its 12th General Assembly and the Alliance’s biannual Rectors’ Council meeting simultaneously from 9 to 11 November. The event brought together more than 200 participants, including Alliance staff and students. The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) was represented by Vicente Micol, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Cooperation; Juana Gallar, UMH’s NeurotechEU lead and Director of the Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH; and Inmaculada Blaya, Director of the International Relations and Cooperation Service.

The event opened in Brussels with the ‘Connected Brains, Connected Europe’ Forum, attended by Gallar and Blaya representing the UMH. The forum aimed to discuss current and future developments in the neurotechnology ecosystem, the evolution of European R&D policies, and how public- and private-sector stakeholders can work together to seize emerging opportunities. Also in attendance were Santiago Lamas, Head of the LIFE Programme at the CSIC Delegation in Brussels, and representatives of the Valencian Regional Government Delegation in Brussels.

Group photo of the 12th NeurotechEU General Assembly. Credit: NeurotechEU.

The General Assembly, held in Nijmegen (the Netherlands), addressed several of the Alliance’s key strategic initiatives, including the new European Master’s in Neurotechnology, international mobility policies and science outreach projects aimed at bringing neurotechnology closer to society. The UMH delegation also included María del Carmen Lillo, Director of the Office for International Promotion and Director of the Centre for Translational Research in Physiotherapy; José Manuel Blanes, Deputy Vice-Rector for Institutional Positioning and Rankings; and Begoña García Jaén, Intellectual Property Officer at the Knowledge Transfer Service. Several UMH faculty members involved in developing teaching materials and launching the future European Master’s in Neurotechnology also attended. They included Víctor Meseguer, researcher at the Institute for Neurosciences UMH-CSIC and Professor of Physiology; Ángel C. Pérez Sempere, neurologist and Professor of Medicine; and José María Azorín, Head of the Brain Machine Interface Systems Lab (BMIs) at the Elche Institute for Research in Engineering, who took part as a speaker in the round-table discussion entitled ‘Translating Science for Society’.

Inmaculada Blaya (far left), Juana Gallar (far right) and representatives of the Valencian Regional Government Delegation in Brussels. Credit: NeurotechEU.

The UMH delegation was completed by Julio Ramos Martínez, technician at the Innovation and Technology Planning Service; María José Such, a quality management expert, and Sonia Martín, project managers for NeurotechEU; Júlia Santacreu, NeurotechEU Communications Officer at the UMH and member of the work package dedicated to the development of interdisciplinary knowledge; Desirée Gracia, the UMH representative on the NeurotechEU Student Council; and PhD students Gamil Hamam Marawi, Luis Martínez Rubio and Lucas Sebastián Peris.

The General Assembly concluded with the closing session and the award ceremony of NeurotechEU’s annual Hackathon. This year’s edition, themed ‘Wearable Neurotechnology: fNIRS and EEG’, was attended by PhD students María Climent and Ariel Expósito.

NeurotechEU is a European university co-funded by the European Commission that aims to create a higher education and research hub focused on neurotechnology. It aims to develop affordable technological solutions to health challenges related to neuroscience and mental health. In addition to the UMH, the NeurotechEU Alliance comprises eight other universities: Radboud University (the Netherlands), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the University of Bonn (Germany), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the University of Lille (France), the Reykjavik University (Iceland) and the Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria). The Alliance also has three associated universities: the University of Debrecen (Hungary), the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (Lithuania) and the University of Western Ontario (Canada).

Source: European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU) – UMH (neurotecheu@umh.es)