The Polar Oceanography and Cryospheric Studies Group is a research group at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona, dedicated to the study of polar regions. Our research focuses on sea ice processes, ocean dynamics, and freshwater fluxes, combining satellite data, in situ observations, and numerical models. By integrating cutting-edge science and technology, we investigate how polar changes influence ocean circulation, the global freshwater balance, and climate dynamics. We are a multidisciplinary group that draws on a wide range of expertise to advance our goals.

We are interested in the factors that influence fire regimes, the corresponding ecosystem response and their impact on the carbon cycle.We are committed to improving knowledge on land degradation and desertification processes caused by climate change (fires, invasive species, floods, droughts), as well as by inadequate land management. We are interested in the study of soil hydrology and fire ecology, developing innovative solutions to improve the sustainability and resilience of agroforestry systems.

Mechatronics and Advanced Design in Robotics (MAD-Robotics) research team is a multidisciplinary group committed to extend and apply robotics, AI and cognitive mechatronics to tackle social problems in challenging environments where robots should interact with the nearby surroundings and people.

The Advanced Hydrogeological & Geothermal Systems Research Group (SHGA) studies the hydrogeological dynamics and coupled thermo-chemical regime of shallow and deep aquifers through fully three-dimensional, variable-density, multiphase reactive-transport modelling constrained by georeferenced geochemical databases, high-resolution subsurface temperature time-series, down-hole sensor networks and remote-sensing products. Stable- and radio-isotopic tracers are integrated to resolve groundwater provenance, age distributions and contaminant-flow paths.

The group led by Dr. Meritxell Gironella is a translational research group focused on the study of new biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for digestive cancers (mainly colorectal and pancreatic cancer). These malignancies are among the most frequent cancers and among the top-leading causes of cancer-related death. Our research is focused on the study of microRNAs and other small non-coding RNAs and their presence in liquid biopsies from these patients in order to discover and validate new biomarkers that could be used for early detection, prognosis or prediction of treatment response.

BIOGEO is a CSIC research group dedicated to studying the interactions between living organisms and their environment, with a particular emphasis on how global change and extreme environmental conditions impact ecosystem structure, diversity, functioning, and biogeochemical fluxes. Our mission is to uncover the mechanisms governing biogeochemical processes in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through a multiscalar approach (from micro to global scales, including the whole-ecosystem level) and a multitemporal perspective (ranging from minutes to millennia), with special focus on long-term eco