The MUN, internationally recognized for its work linking art with research, teaching and the dissemination of knowledge

The award was presented in Dubai during ICOM's annual congress.

The MUN is not an ordinary museum: it is a university museum, whose identity is based on the creation and transmission of new knowledge, in contact with the different disciplines of knowledge. For its contribution in this direction, it received in Dubai the international UMAC (International Committee for Museums and University Collections) award organized by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). It did so thanks to the "Arts and Life" project, which addresses research, teaching and dissemination in the field of palliative care through art.

The director of the MUN, Jaime García del Barrio, accepted the award. "It is a satisfaction to see how the Museum's aims of contributing to knowledge and society become a reality. As a university museum, this distinction encourages us to continue implementing innovative teaching projects, and to approach art as a tool available to our teachers and students, through which they can continue researching and learning," he said.

This project has involved the Culture and Society Institute (ICS) of the University of Navarra (through the Global Palliative Care Observatory ATLANTES), the faculties of Medicine, Nursing, Education and Psychology, and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, which shows the interdisciplinary approach to research.

"Arts and life" shows how professors and researchers in the area of palliative care have used MUN and art as a key tool to advance their field, transform teaching and transfer the knowledge generated to the public. The initiative that materializes the project is the play Cicely and David, which narrates the origins of palliative care through Cicely Saunders. The production was supported by the Pía Aguirreche Foundation, which is committed to promoting awareness and educating society on this subject.

Doctors, nurses, researchers and other members of the ATLANTES group were the actors and actresses in the play, which has attracted more than 1,200 spectators in Pamplona (MUN and Civivox) and in Malaga (as part of the XIV International Congress of the Spanish Society of Palliative Care), as well as in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia).

The performance is part of a teaching innovation strategy promoted by the Museum and the Global Palliative Care Observatory ATLANTES. Thus, Cicely and David is the culmination of a trajectory in which art and artists are an essential part of teaching. Since the beginning of the MUN, every year hundreds of students have been trained in its rooms on end-of-life issues, while contemplating works from its collection in different activities and workshops, developed by teachers from the Faculty of Medicine (such as the subject Decision Making at the End of Life), and Nursing(Palliative Care); an art therapy workshop for palliative care professionals - run by the MUN, the ATLANTES group and the Palliative Care Society of Navarra (PALIAN); or one on empathy, compassion, communication, integrity and professional competence for medical students.

Also noteworthy is the teaching innovation project of the Faculty of Nursing "Nursing and art: an active interdisciplinary methodology to improve students' self-knowledge, empathy and observation".