FUNDACION UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE VALENCIA SAN VICENTE MARTIR

Their core work

UCV is a private Catholic university in Valencia, Spain, engaged in EU-level research through coordination and support activities rather than direct experimental research. Their H2020 work spans two distinct tracks: ethical frameworks for health research (informed consent, gender sensitivity, and protection of vulnerable groups) and the development of European university alliances focused on smart urban and coastal sustainability. As a member of the EU-CONEXUS European University Alliance, UCV contributes to researcher career development, knowledge transfer, and open science practices. Their institutional role in EU projects is primarily as a supporting or contributing partner, bringing university governance and education expertise rather than laboratory or technical capacity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the first phase of H2020 engagement (2017–2021), UCV operated at the margins of health and social research — contributing as a third party to a project reforming informed consent practices with a focus on gender, age, and vulnerable populations. By 2021–2024, their focus shifted decisively toward the European Research Area: researcher mobility, open participatory science, knowledge transfer, and the institutional architecture of European University Alliances. This is a clear pivot from topic-specific ethics support toward broader research system development and university capacity building. The trajectory suggests UCV is positioning itself less as a thematic specialist and more as an institutional actor in European higher education reform.

UCV is moving toward European higher education system-building — European University Alliances, open science, and ERA alignment — which makes them a more relevant partner for coordination projects than for thematic research grants.

How they like to work

UCV has never led an H2020 project, entering first as a third party (a peripheral supporting role) and then as a full participant within a large European University Alliance consortium. This suggests they are comfortable joining established networks rather than initiating them. With 15 partners across 9 countries, their network is diverse but driven by alliance membership rather than repeat bilateral partnerships — typical of universities that build reach through institutional consortia rather than focused research teams.

UCV has collaborated with 15 unique partners across 9 countries, a breadth explained by their participation in a multi-partner European University Alliance (EU-CONEXUS). Their network is European in scope but consortium-driven rather than organically built through repeated bilateral collaboration.

What sets them apart

UCV is one of very few private Catholic universities in Spain with active EU H2020 participation, giving it a distinctive institutional profile that combines values-based governance with European research credentials. Their dual track — health ethics on one side, European university alliance membership on the other — makes them an unusual bridge between bioethics, social inclusion, and higher education reform. For consortium builders needing a Spanish HES partner with a clear social mission, cross-sector reach, and EU alliance affiliation, UCV fills a specific and underserved niche.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EU-CONEXUS-RFS
  UCV's only funded H2020 project (EUR 358,675), and their participation in the EU-CONEXUS European University Alliance signals institutional ambition to operate at the ERA level across smart urban coastal sustainability, open science, and researcher career development.
• I-CONSENT
  Though UCV contributed as a third party, the project's focus on gender-sensitive informed consent guidelines for vulnerable populations — including vaccine research — reflects a rare specialisation in applied research ethics within a Catholic university framework.