Dr. Ramón Palau

1. What do you like most about your job?

I’m more strategic than operational, but planning studies and research, managing teams, working with PhD students, and writing research articles are some of the things that make me happiest.

2. What would you like to spend more time doing?

I’d like to have more time, but that’s not possible. If I had to choose, maybe I would hike the Trans-Pyrenees trail. The issue is that there are 46 different stages and, even without setbacks or injuries, I’ve never had enough time to successfully complete it.

3. What are you proudest of?

Progress from generation to generation. My parents were farmers and they came to Barcelona from Espluga de Francolí in 1949. They fled the repression of the post Spanish Civil War era with nothing on their backs and without having had the opportunity to go to school for very long. There were no books at my family’s house. Like most of my friends in the neighbourhood, our aspiration for progress in that grey Barcelona of the Franco era was to become white-collar workers to try to improve the situation of the previous generation just a little bit. I rebelled, studied, worked hard, and skipped a generation. That’s why I believe in meritocracy. Doing the job right always results in opportunities.

4. What value do you appreciate most in people?

Loyalty to commitments, not hiding, and working for the group and not for individual reasons. Ah, and food lovers if possible.

5. Where’s a place you’d like to visit?

Any cove between Port de la Selva and Cap de Creus in the spring or summer, or on any peak in the Pyrenees during the winter.

6. What’s a dream you’d like to pursue?

None, dreams are dreams. They fade away when you wake up.

7. What do you have left to learn?

Everything. Life is very short and knowledge is limitless. I keep learning every minute, every hour, every day.