The collaboration between the groups of Prof. Pau Ballester at ICIQ and Prof. Eduard Llobet at URV has allowed the development of a sensor highly selective for benzene in air with a lower limit of detection to the extent permitted by law. The work has been published in Advanced Functional Materials and selected for the back cover.

CRG, ICIQ, ICN2,ICFO, IFAE and IRB Barcelona come together in this new institution. The Barcelona Institute emerges as one of the leading scientific institutes in Europe, ranking fourth in the number of ERC grants awarded per volume of researchers. ts Board of Trustees is formed by non-profits and renowned international scientists including Profs. Rolf Tarrach (Chair), Joan Massagué, and Ignacio Cirac, among others. The Barcelona Institute will promote joint research strategies, transfer of technology, and graduate programs.

Agustín Mihi, a researcher with the Nephos researcher group at the URV's Department of Electronic, Electrical and Automatic Engineering, has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The grant is worth 1.5 million euros over a period of five years and is for a project to create photonic structures for controlling the propagation of light in emerging technologies such as solar cells, sensors and the next generation of LEDs.

"Chemistry is a creative science with a brilliant future". These are the enthusiastic words of the chemist Luis A. Oro, who said them during the speech he gave after receiving an honorary doctorate from the URV in a ceremony in the University's Auditorium on 27 February.