International PhD Programme

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona develops interdisciplinary research of excellence in the fields of biomedical engineering and nanomedicine, from basic research to medical applications. Its mission is to consolidate a strong international position in these fields while creating knowledge, contributing to a better quality of life, improving health and creating wealth.

IBEC is located within the Barcelona Science Park and the Besós Campus of the Technical University of Catalonia. IBEC has 22 research groups and a team of researchers and support services of 370 people from 30 different countries.

IBEC was founded in 2005 by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya– BarcelonaTech with the mission to develop international high quality interdisciplinary research that, while creating knowledge, contributes to a better quality of life, improving health and creating wealth. IBEC aims to consolidate a strong international position in the fields of nanomedicine and bioengineering, as well as to increase the portfolio of technology transfer services available to the industrial sector and the healthcare system.

IBEC is part of a new wave of research initiatives, with shared interests and points of view concerning how to advance the frontiers of knowledge in experimental science to benefit clinical and biomedical research. The common denominator shared by these new initiatives is their focus on the enormous challenge of how to make life science quantitative on any scale, taking full advantage of the unprecedented power of the convergence between nano, bio and ICT.

The vision promoted at IBEC is to exploit and connect the multidisciplinarity of its groups, aligning their complementary capacities through four broad areas of expertise: Nanomedicine, Cell Engineering, Mechanobiology and ICT for Health.

To this end, IBEC focuses its scientific and technological work around three core application areas: Bioengineering for future and precision medicine (technology that goes beyond the existing paradigm of hospital care); Bioengineering for active ageing (meeting the needs of an ageing population); and Bioengineering for regenerative therapies (regeneration of damaged tissues or organs, or to develop cell therapies).

IBEC excellence was recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness by its award as Severo Ochoa Research Centre in the 2014 call, which labels IBEC as one of Spain top research centres at the highest international level in terms of research, training, human resources, outreach and technology transfer. The award was renewed in the 2018 call.