Joan Estruch to be awarded the Saint George Cross

Joan Estruch, former professor in Sociology at the UAB and founder of the research group ISOR (Resarch into the Sociology of Religion), will be awarded a Saint George Cross. This is one of the highest awards conffered onto citizens or institutions by the Government of Catalonia. The awardees were announced on 10 March and an institutional ceremony will be held soon.

Dr Estruch is a prominent figure in sociology of religions. He earned his PhD at the UB and began to lecture in sociology at the UAB in 1971. He also founded the ISOR research group at the UAB, a group dedicated to studying religion, identities and historical memory. He was made chair professor of the Department of Sociology in 1989, where he lectured in many subjects, including sociology of religion and the analysis of religious organisations.

Throughout his career as researcher and lecturer, he coordinated many projects on issues related to the sociology of culture and religion, such as the project of creating the Religious Map of Catalonia. He also directed more than 15 PhD theses. He also gave lectures at different universities, such as the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and is associated member of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University.

In 2006, he was awarded the Narcís Monturiol Medal by the Government of Catalonia for his research, and in 2009 he received the Jaume Vicens Vives Award in Quality University Teaching. Since 1995, he is a numerary member of the Institute for Catalan Studies. In 2019, he published his memoirs in Crec recordar (Fragmenta).