The University of Zaragoza on 17 September 2026 presented the communications and identity campaign Cajal X Unizar . It is intended to make the scientific legacy of the pioneering neuroanatomist and Nobel laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal a unifying theme for the university, thereby making tradition, current research, teaching and future goals more visibly interconnected.
The presentation on campus was led by Rector Rosa Bolea and the Vice-Rector for Communication and Institutional Identity, Carmen Marta Lazo. According to the university leadership, the campaign is explicitly aimed at a broad public, and particularly at younger audiences. Plans include campus posters, digital graphics, audiovisual content and social media activities. A preceding teaser featuring the phrase A University of Nobel had pointed to the launch.
In terms of content, the campaign takes a contemporary visual approach to Cajal: images combine portraits with striking quotations from his work. The university stresses that it does not want merely to preserve tradition, but to link historical identity with current strategic goals. These include research transfer, international visibility and support for early-career researchers. When it unveiled the campaign, the university did not mention any additional programmes, budgets or timescales directly linked to Cajal X Unizar.
The university leadership notes that existing collections and exhibition spaces dedicated to Santiago Ramón y Cajal on campus provide the institutional context. At the same time, the campaign is intended to give greater visibility to ongoing research and innovation projects. According to media reports, the university also aims to strengthen the profile of its research as a whole. Details of the campaign’s production partners and evaluation criteria had not been provided at the time of its presentation.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906 and is considered the university’s most distinguished former student and teacher. With Cajal X Unizar, the university is building on this legacy to underline its profile and ambitions in the competition among Spanish and international universities. Whether the communications initiative will lead to longer-term structural measures in research, study or networking remains to be seen and will depend on further decisions by the university leadership.
The launch of Cajal X Unizar is a regional development in Aragon, but has the potential to raise the profile of research in Zaragoza beyond the university’s internal identity-building.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).