The ecosystem of Corporate Chairs at the Gandia Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) continues to grow with the addition of Zunibal, a company specialising in technological solutions for sustainable fisheries.
Among the activities planned by the Zunibal Chair are collaborations on master’s degrees and lifelong learning programmes, the announcement of scholarships and project awards, the organisation of conferences, seminars, and technical outreach events, as well as the promotion of national and international meetings of experts in the field of fisheries acoustics.
This Chair is the result of 12 years of collaboration between Zunibal and the Gandia Campus in research. According to Ibone Rodríguez de Pablo, CEO of Zunibal, it represents an opportunity for the company, which, together with UPV, will be able to “create a strong future for students and showcase Zunibal’s work in the marine environment to the world.”
The Chair’s director, Isabel Pérez Arjona, an expert in underwater acoustics at the Gandia Campus, explained that this Chair marks an important turning point for the campus, which is closely linked to the marine environment in both research and teaching. In her view, it is a fundamental and natural step that will benefit students by providing training and funding for the development of Bachelor’s and Master’s Dissertations.
The signing ceremony for the Chair was attended on behalf of Zunibal by its CEO, Ibone Rodríguez de Pablo; CTO and Director of Technology, Aitor Aizpurúa Eisenhofer; Director of Science and Sustainability, Patricia Ordóñez Cebrián; and Lead Scientist in Fisheries Acoustics, Lucio Calise. Representing UPV were the Rector, the Vice-Rector for Employment, Lifelong Learning and Languages, Vicenç Almenar Terré, Director of the Gandia Campus; Ignacio Gil Pechuán, Director of the Employment and Corporate Chairs Area; José Marín-Roig Ramón, Deputy Director of the Gandia Campus; Víctor José Sánchez Morcillo, Director of the Research Institute for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (IGIC); Víctor Espinosa Roselló, lecturer at the Gandia Campus; and Isabel Pérez Arjona, Director of the Zunibal Chair.
During the event, held in the Rector’s Office, José Capilla underlined that “stable collaboration between universities and companies is key to generating useful knowledge, transferring it to society and anticipating technological and environmental challenges.” In this regard, he highlighted that the creation of the Zunibal Chair “strengthens UPV’s position in marine research and consolidates the Gandia Campus as a benchmark in integrated coastal zone management and marine technologies.”
