Anton Aluja awarded honorary doctorate by the University of Liège

Anton Aluja Fabregat, Professor of Psychology at the University of Lleida (UdL), was awarded an honorary doctorate this Saturday by the University of Liège (Belgium) at the proposal of its Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Educational Sciences. Aluja is one of eleven people to whom the Belgian university is awarding this distinction this year at the proposal of the different centres. These include Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank and the first woman to hold this position, Emmanuelle Charpentier, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jennifer Doudna for the development of a method of genome editing, and Michel Claise, the investigating judge in the Qatargate case, a case of alleged bribery involving the European Parliament.

Aluja, professor of Personality Psychology at the UdL and head of the research group Neurocognition, psychobiology of the personality and behavioral genetics at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Lleida (IRBLleida), was sponsored by another psychologist, Michel Hansenne, who highlighted his exceptional international reputation in terms of publications and his significant contribution to the development of an essential model in personality psychology. In the latest Research.com world ranking, Anton Aluja is ranked 7,393 out of 12,533 in the world, and 74th in Spain.

The UdL professor specialises in the effects of personality on decision-making and the activity of the prefrontal cortex, neurocognition, the psychobiology of personality, behavioural genetics, as well as the role of impulsivity in risk behaviour and psychopathy. His research on personality traits, especially those related to impulsivity and sensation research, but also in psychological assessment and diagnosis with a particular focus on individual differences. He is also advisor and evaluator of the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia and promoter and coordinator of the webs www.produ-science.udl.cat y www.psy-wos.es.

As part of his stay in Liège, Aluja also gave the lecture Biological bases of personality in recent years, where he discussed social factors related to personality (learning, intelligence, socialisation, health psychology and culture) and structural models of personality through the main instruments for assessing normal and pathological personality. He also referred to research focused on the biological bases of personality, such as those related to the gonadal hormones of the endocrine system and certain genetic polymorphisms such as MAO, serotonin and the androgen receptor gene, as well as the electrophysiological bases of personality.

Text: Press University of Lleida