UNIVERSIDADE DA CORUNA

Their core work

The University of A Coruña is a Spanish public university with strong applied mathematics and computational research groups, contributing to fields ranging from natural language processing and agent-based social simulation to supramolecular chemistry and urban water management. Their research teams build computational models for energy transition policy, financial risk valuation, and environmental systems. They also run doctoral training programmes in ICT and maintain research infrastructure for urban drainage systems, positioning them as both a knowledge producer and a training hub for early-career researchers in Galicia and beyond.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), UDC focused on computational and mathematical foundations — financial mathematics (WAKEUPCALL), NLP parsing (FASTPARSE), bioinformatics (BIRDS), and initial energy work (RESFARM). From 2019 onward, the university pivoted toward two distinct tracks: experimental science with the SENSE ERC grant in supramolecular chemistry, and applied societal research in energy transitions (ENTRANCES, EnergyPROSPECTS) and urban infrastructure (Co-UDlabs). The shift shows a university moving from pure computational research toward lab-based materials science and real-world environmental and social challenges.

UDC is expanding from computational strength into experimental biomaterials and urban sustainability — expect future projects combining modelling expertise with physical infrastructure and environmental applications.

How they like to work

UDC operates as a balanced partner: they coordinate 7 of 26 projects (27%), showing leadership capacity especially in their core strengths (NLP, migration, urban drainage, doctoral training). With 282 unique consortium partners across 40 countries, they are a well-connected hub rather than a repeat-partner institution. Their projects range from small MSCA networks to large RIA consortia, suggesting comfort at multiple scales of collaboration and willingness to join diverse teams.

UDC has collaborated with 282 distinct partners across 40 countries, giving them one of the broader networks for a mid-sized Spanish university. Their connections span Southern and Western Europe primarily, but MSCA mobility grants and global projects like INCASI extend their reach to Latin America and beyond.

What sets them apart

UDC combines deep computational and mathematical modelling expertise with growing capacity in experimental chemistry and urban environmental engineering — a rare combination in a single university. Their two ERC Starting Grants (FASTPARSE in NLP, SENSE in biomaterials) signal research groups that compete at the highest European level. For consortium builders, UDC offers the dual advantage of strong quantitative modelling skills applicable across domains, plus a track record of coordinating EU projects with relatively modest overhead costs typical of Spanish universities.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SENSE
  ERC Starting Grant and UDC's largest single award (EUR 1.49M) — signals a world-class research group in peptide nanostructure engineering, running until 2026.
• FASTPARSE
  ERC Starting Grant (EUR 1.48M) in computational linguistics — established UDC as a European reference point for large-scale natural language parsing.
• Co-UDlabs
  UDC-coordinated infrastructure project (EUR 923K) building a pan-European urban drainage research lab network — positions them as a hub for water management research.