Francesc Xavier Grau graduated with a PhD from the University of Barcelona and is currently Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the Universitat Rovira Virgili. He has worked as a researcher at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics in Toulouse, at the Center for Turbulence Research at NASA Ames (California, USA) and at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University (California, USA).
Rector of the Universitat Rovira Virgili between 2006 and 2014 and promoter of the Campus of International Excellence Southern Catalonia, he has been Vice President of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities, President of the Catalan Association of Public Universities and President of the International Relations Commission of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia. He is currently the Academic Director of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), Director of the URV University and Knowledge Region Chair, and first Vice President of the Vives University Network.