Prof. Gustau Catalán earned his degree in physics at the Universitat de Barcelona in 1997 and his PhD, also in physics, at Queen’s University of Belfast in 2001. He held research positions at the Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats in Mallorca (2002- 2004), the University of Groningen (2004-2005) and the University of Cambridge (2005-2009). In 2009, he was appointed ICREA Research Professor and joined the ICN2 as leader of the Oxide Nanophysics Group. At the ICN2, with the help of an ERC Grant, he set up one of the world’s first laboratories of flexoelectricity.

Prof. Catalan’s scientific interests cover a variety of physical properties of oxides, including ferroelectricity, metal-insulator transitions, flexoelectricity and domain wall physics, with a focus on how these properties may interact with each other or lead to emergent functionalities at reduced dimensions.