The University of Oviedo and the Council of Economics and Employment have set in motion the Asturias Prevención Chair, seeking to develop formative and dissemination activities on the prevention of work-related risks and to promote the collaboration between both institutions in the design of programs of interest. The Rector, Vicente Gotor, and the Councilor of Economics and Employment, Graciano Torre, have signed an agreement that will lead to the development of the Chair, part of the Agreement for Employment and the Progress of Asturias (AEPA).

Present in the act were also the Vice-Rector for Research and Campus of International Excellence, Paz Suárez Rendueles; the Director of the Asturian Institute of Prevention of Work-Related Risks of the Principality, Miryam Hernández, and the Director of the Chair, Antonio García Izquierdo.

The Rector of the University of Oviedo, Vicente Gotor, has talked about this new Chair as a strategic element in the institutional relations of a topic as important as the prevention of work-related risks. The Rector also highlighted the commitment of the academic institution to the reseach in the field of health as part of the Campus of International Excellence.

In turn, the Councilor of Economics and Employment, Graciano Torre, has praised the investment of the Asturian Government in promoting the collaboration with the University of Oviedo to the development of such initiatives as this one, which will promote health and security at work through the formation and dissemination of activities related to prevention. Moreover, he has encouraged the dissemination of knowledge from the academic institution towards the business centers as a benefit to Asturian society and the economic growth of the country.

The Asturias Prevención Chair has been thought as a place to meet, analyze and debate the different topics related to the prevention of work-related risks through the support of formation, research, development and innovation (R&D&i), the dissemination and the promotion of workplace health and risk prevention.

The activities and projects that will be developed will be formalized in an annual schedule and will be focused on three topics: reserach, teaching and promotion of work-related risk prevention. The plan for the current fiscal year will have a budget provided by the Asturian Institute of Prevention of Work-Related Risks of €50,000.

The Chair will be directed by the Professor of the Department of Psychology of the University of Oviedo Antonio García Izquierdo. Moreover, it will have a monitoring committee composed by three representatives from the Asturian Institute of Prevention of Work-Related Risks and three from the academic institution, who will be in charge of supervising and evaluating the development of the Chair.

Some of the proposed formative activities include pre- and post-PhD grants; awards to the best academic record; conferences, and more. The agreement also includes several research initiatives, such as the composition of PhD Theses in cooperation with the enterprises and the promotion of national and international meetings of experts on related topics. Lastly, the agreement includes actions for transference and dissemination such as publications on topics of interest and the establishment of meeting for technical and technological dissemination.