20-02-2026
The Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV) announces the creation of the Institute for the Global Common Good (IBCG), a new academic entity resulting from the merger of the Isabel la Católica School of Government and Leadership and the Center for the Global Common Good, both affiliated with the School of Law, Business, and Government. The Institute is positioned as UFV’s flagship center for research, education, and knowledge transfer focused on the common good.
The creation of the Institute for the Global Common Good represents a strategic step in the consolidation of Francisco de Vitoria University’s academic mission. The new Institute was established with the mission of identifying today’s major social challenges and developing proposals that generate tangible contributions to the common good of society through applied research, leadership development, and knowledge transfer.
The merger of the Center for the Global Common Good and the Isabel la Católica School of Government and Leadership reflects a commitment to integrating capabilities, strengthening synergies, and moving toward a more coherent, ambitious academic structure that is aligned with UFV’s institutional mission.
The Institute for the Global Common Good serves as Francisco de Vitoria University’s leading center at the intersection of legal, economic, business, and political sciences, with a clear interdisciplinary focus.
From this position, the Institute will actively collaborate with other institutes, chairs, and departments at the University to achieve its goals, promoting a comprehensive perspective on contemporary social, political, and economic challenges.
In addition, the Institute will play a leading role in promoting research at the School of Law, Business, and Government, where it is based, and will work to advance the creation of a programme the social sciences with a focus on the common good.
The Institute's activities are organized around three main areas: applied research on contemporary challenges; the training of public, social, and business leaders with a solid ethical foundation; and the transfer of knowledge aimed at generating a real impact on society.
According to the Institute’s president, Ignacio Cosidó, “the Institute for the Global Common Good was founded to bridge rigorous thinking and transformative action. We want the common good to be a guiding principle in political, economic, and social decision-making.”
Likewise, Javier de Cendra, dean of the UFV School of Law, Business, and Government, explains that “the creation of the Institute for the Global Common Good represents an ambitious commitment by the School of Law, Business, and Government to become a key player in multidisciplinary reflection on the epochal shift we are experiencing—evidenced by issues such as the technological revolution, the emergence of a new world order, the demographic crisis, and the migration crisis, in generating proposals that contribute to the common good at the local and global levels, and in training leaders dedicated to service. The Institute will work closely with other UFV institutes and with many academic and institutional partners across all fields to promote significant social impact. It will benefit all UFV students, and in particular those in the Faculty, enriching their undergraduate and graduate programs. I thank Ignacio Cosidó for agreeing to assume the presidency and welcome Professor Matthias Nebel as the Institute’s new director. I am confident that the Institute will play an important role in shaping more humane societies.”
The Institute is chaired by Ignacio Cosidó and directed by Matthias Nebel, a theologian and specialist in the Church’s social teaching and development issues.
Nebel is a professor of Social Ethics and the Church’s Social Teaching at Francisco de Vitoria University and has an extensive international academic background. He has taught at the Institut Catholique de Paris, the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, and the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, and served as a Research Associate at the Von Hügel Institute at the University of Cambridge. For five years, he directed the Caritas in Veritate Foundation, a research foundation affiliated with the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
For Nebel, “the Institute aims to be a place where rigour translates into concrete proposals and processes for social transformation. Thinking about the common good today requires intellectual depth, but also the ability to engage with the specific challenges of our time.”
The Institute for the Global Common Good comprises the following academic and research units:
With the creation of the Institute for the Global Common Good, Francisco de Vitoria University reinforces its commitment to being a university that generates knowledge in the service of society, training leaders capable of combining professional excellence, ethical responsibility, and a dedication to serving the common good.
