Professor Joan Gispets i Parcerisas was the dean of the Terrassa School of Optics and Optometry (FOOT) for the last eight years and will now serve as vice-rector for University Policy at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC). He will be in charge of strategic projects such as the Galàxia Aprenentatge project, a process of reflection to transform the learning experience at the UPC, and the process of preparing the UPC’s communication strategy. Additionally, he will be in charge of coordinating the policies and actions of the Executive Council and those of academic units, and supervising and coordinating the University’s relations with local institutions and administrations for work on joint strategic actions (see the functions, in Catalan, of the vice-rector Joan Gispets).

Joan Gispets holds a diploma in Optics and Optometry from the UPC, a master’s degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences from the University of Manchester and a doctoral degree in Sciences from the UPC. Since 1998, he has been a professor at the Department of Optics and Optometry affiliated with the FOOT.

In the area of research, he is a member of the Vision, Optometry and Health research group and was a member of the Optical Engineering Research Group. He has published 26 articles in indexed journals, given 53 presentations at conferences and written or participated in six book chapters.

In the area of management, he was an assistant director at the FOOT at different times, of international relations first and then later in charge of promoting the optometry clinic. He was the director of the University Vision Centre for six years and the dean of the FOOT for eight years. Professor Aurora Torrents took up the latter post on 20 May.

In the area of teaching, he has taught various subjects on the bachelor’s degree in Optics and Optometry and the master’s degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences, all of them in clinical optometry and contactology. He has extensive experience in teaching for service learning and was awarded, together with colleagues from his department, the Vicens Vives distinction for quality in university teaching.