Welcome!

Computer Science & Microgravity Lab

Led by Associate Professor Antoni Perez-Poch (Prof. Contratado Doctor), our laboratory is integrated in the Computer Science Department at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya(UPC) – BarcelonaTech. We conduct research in applied software, space-related topics, medical applications and STEAM Education.

We have open positions for highly motivated PhD students in the fields of Microgravity Research and STEAM Education. Please contact us for more details!!! Where you wish to go next?

Our Mission is to provide an agreable environment for leading research and effective learning. With a multidisciplinary approach, we aim to embrace inclusion, diversity and equity as key values to foster everyone’s personal development. We believe that higher education should be a place for not only creating and providing new quality knowledge, but also an important asset of nowadays’ human society, where their citizens may freely develop their skills. Manners will take you where brains and money won’t. Furthermore, we are an integral part of two excellent Research Groups in our University UPC:

The Laboratory of Multimedia Applications LAM UPC

The EDUSTEAM research group in Engineering Education:

Prof. Antoni Perez-Poch is also a Researcher at the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya :

Antoni Perez-Poch, PhD

Associate Professor in Computer Science (Prof. Agregat) at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC-BarcelonaTech (Spain).

Academic Director of the STEAM Training Program on Teaching and Learning at UPC.

With a PhD in Engineering Education, his research interests include Computer Science medical applications, Aviation and Space Medicine, Microgravity, STEAM Education and Philosophy of Science.

He teaches different subjects on Computer Science and Telecommunications at Barcelona East Engineering School (EEBE)

Research CV

Our Research

Microgravity and Human Physiology

We investigate how human physiology is affected by microgravity.

We are pioneers in using single-engine aerobatic aircraft to conduct parabolic flights in cooperation with Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell.

This enables us to produce short periods (5-8.5 seconds) of microgravity so-called parabolas in which life sciences and physical experiments can be conducted.

Engineering Education

We are interested in improving the quality and efficiency of Quality and Teaching in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts Mathematics studies) Higher Education.

We investigate different methodologies such as Challenge-Based Learning, Project-Based Learning, Cooperative Learning or Just-In-Time Teaching among others by using quantitative and qualitative research approaches.

Medical Applicatons

As a multidisciplinary laboratory integrated in the Computer Science Department, we develop different applications for Engineering and Medical projects, see for example (within the LAM-UPC group):

Our Values

Values in our lab are of paramount importance. We are fully committed to creating a leading research group which incorporates inclusion, diversity and creativity as key resources for improving science.

Leading Research

We are interested in finding the effects on different physical and life sciences in microgravity. We also work in improving motivation in Engineering students.

Inclusion & Diversity

We work with the Office of Inclusion of UPC providing mentorships within UPC and other organizations such as SGAC.

Creativity

We are looking into what role Creativity plays in Engineering, usually underplayed in Higher Education. We believe this is a major asset for any researcher.