Núria Sebastián is the new member of the Innovation Advisory Council of Sorigué. The researcher, who has earned international recognition for her scientific contributions, is the new Vice-President of the European Research Council (ERC). She is also a Professor of Psychology in the Information and Communications Department at the Pompeu Fabra University, where she also directs research in Speech Acquisition and Perception (SAP).

With an ample professional career, she was a researcher at diverse research centres such as the IRCS at the University of Pennsylvania and the ICN University College in London, having received international awards such as of the James McDonnell Foundation.

The Vice-President of the European Research Council has stated: “I am interested in being able to contribute through my experience and knowledge to the bid for innovation culture driven by Sorigué”.

On Tuesday 1st December, Sebastián participated in the second meeting of the Innovation Advisory Council at Sorigué, attended by its founding members: Ana Vallés, Chairlady of Sorigué; Rolf Tarrach, President of the European Association of Universities; Lluís Torner, Director of the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO); Marcos Urarte, Strategic Consultant and Expert in Innovation; and representatives of the company Innovation Department. 

At the encounter, work was carried out to develop proposals to create and encourage a culture of innovation at Sorigué, with discussion of specific lines of work and research that may be carried out by the company. 

The Innovation Advisory Council de Sorigué has the purpose of contributing to create an ecosystem to favour new internal and external projects, acting as a “radar” for potentially more advantageous trends at international level in the sectors in which Sorigué is working and new sectors of activity.

Núria Sebastián 

Nuria Sebastián obtained her PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Barcelona and has completed post-doctorate studies at the Max Planck Institute of Munich and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. 

In 2010, she was a professor at the University of Chicago and in 2005 she taught the prestigious “Nijmegen Lectures”. In 2009 and 2014, she was awarded the ICREA Academy Prize and, in 2012, the Narcís Monturiol medal in recognition of her contributions to the field of science. 

Her research focuses on study of the mechanisms the human brain has to learn language, paying special attention to bilingual populations. She is considered a founder of experimental research into how babies learn language in bilingual environments.