The Research and Development Institute (IRD) of the Open University of Madrid is the coordinating institution for research, development and innovation in science and technology of UDIMA. It is an interdisciplinary center that coordinates all research activities of the University.

IRD Activities

RD activities fall into four areas: research, technology transfer, training and dissemination of culture, science and technology. It is, therefore, the primary institution that coordinates the activities of the three lines of research of UDIMA:

• Basic research.
• Applied research.
• Research focused on the development of methodological procedures based on the application of ICT in distance education.

The research, innovation and development carried out by the IID covers the following areas: research, technology transfer, training and dissemination.

Groups and Research

Research and transfer lines on economics, business and environment (LIT3E).

• Economic Theory
• Risk management in agriculture
• Attention and retention of scientific knowledge: researchers mobility
• Business demography
• Alternative Risk Transfer
• Applications of ICT in teaching economics and business

Director of the research group: Mr. Pedro Aceituno Aceituno
E-mail contact: pedro.aceituno@udima.es

Journalism and Language

• Syntax, Semantics, Lexicology Analysis of spatial prepositions in English and Spanish from the point of view of Cognitive Linguistics
• History of Spanish contemporary journalism
• Socio-cultural analysis of contemporary advertising discourse
• Tourism Communication
• Free press: birth, evolution and crisis of the free press in Spain general information
• Application of ICT in language teaching

Director of the research group: Mr. Álvaro de Diego González

E-mail contact: alvaro.dediego@udima.es

Psychocology and Society

• History, Psychology and Society
• Well-being and quality of life
• Development and psychopathology: processes, assessment and intervention

Director of the research group: Mr. José Ignacio Baile Ayensa

E-mail contact: joseignacio.baile@udima.es

New models of Labour Relations and Human Resources

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Business strategies and organizational changes in the Information Society
• Psychosocial risks: Mobbing
• Minorities and social exclusion
• Flexicurity and labor market reform
• Contemporary Social and Political History
• Implementation in the company of measures to reconcile work and family life
• Social Status
• Organization and legal status of state and government: prospects and improvement projects
• Statistics and measurement processes in organizations
• The annulment of court proceedings

Director of the research group: Mr. Djamil Kahale Carrillo

E-mail contact: djamiltony.kahale@udima.es

The globalization of law

• Online Education Law
• Responsibility extra contractual, professional liability, liability in motor vehicle traffic, product liability, assessment of damage and liability insurance. Tort law
• Liability for defective products
• Organization and legal status of state and government: prospects and improvement projects
• The welfare state: social and economic rights, equality policies
• Political and administrative institutions in the Crown of Aragon. The administration of justice. Taxation
• Legal status of trade in services in the international, European and Spanish field
• Equal Opportunities Policy
• Administrative law: Tax and Roman criminal
• Litigation
• Criminal law sports
• Crime in sports injuries, violence at show sporting groups, racism and xenophobia in sport, crime threats and coercion in sports, criminal protection of sports betting, use of criminal evidence as a basis for administrative sanctions ("Operation Puerto")
• Mediation. Eventual regulation and offenses arising from a mediation
• The collective agreement as a source of labor relations: application in the enterprise and interpretation
• Non-profit entities
• Review of tax acts in administrative matters
• Taxation of real estate investments (REITS)

Director of the research group: Dª Isabel Sánchez de Movellán Torent

E-mail contact: isabel.sanchezdemovellan@udima.es

Power and Culture in History

• Communications Technology and Information & Culture and Territory
• The historical narrative constructed from the archaeological remnant
• Interactions in multicultural communities: Medieval Spain, ss.XI-XV
• Cultural Transfers in the seventeenth-century Spanish monarchy
• Deism and free thought in the origins of the Enlightenment
• Toledo and the Silver Age of Spanish culture

Director of the research group: Dª Esther Pascua Echegaray

E-mail contact: esther.pascua@udima.es

Research Group Information Systems

• Research in Theoretical fundamentals and Applied to information Systems

Director of the research group: Dª María Aurora Martínez Rey

E-mail contact: mariaaurora.martinez@udima.es

Innovation in Tourism Destinations

• Tourism and new technologies
• Communication and Information in the tourism secto
• Heritage Tourism Systems

Director of the research group: Dª Libertad Troitiño Torralba.

E-mail contact: nieveslibertad.troitino@udima.es

Education and New Technologies (ENT)

• Applications of Web 2.0 to education
• Educational and teaching Innovations
• Education & Free Software
• Mobile Learning
• Metaverses (Second Life)
• TV & Education
• Multimedia instructional material
• On-line Communication & Education

Unit Director of Education and New Technologies: Dª Ana Landeta, UDIMA

E-mail contact: analandeta@udima.es

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