On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed WHO of rare cases of pneumonia in the city of Wuhan. The Chinese government later detected that the first infected patient had been a 55-year-old male who had contracted the disease on November 17. In the weeks that followed, status was of little concern in Europe: after all, other epidemics and health crises - such as Ebola, avian flu or mad cow disease - had had a moderate impact in the West in previous years.

The first scientists who warned of the real risk of a massive contagion of covid-19 in Europe were not heard in time. The virus advanced rapidly and spread throughout the world under the incredulous gaze of governments and citizens alike. On March 11, WHO declared covid-19 a "global pandemic". Today, more than three and a half million people have contracted the disease and 250,000 have died, more than 25,000 of them in Spain.

With the spread of the epidemic, the first response has been - as is logical - scientific and sanitary: the urgent thing was to save lives, avoid the collapse of the health system and find vaccines and treatments to cure the disease. The most serious part is over, at least in this first outbreak of covid-19. Now it is time to think about the day after, about what we have learned in these weeks and about the task ahead of us.

During the time of confinement we have discovered at least two relevant facts. First, we have remembered that we are fortunate to live in a free society; never before have we been deprived of something as basic as the possibility of leaving our home: now we know better how much it is worth to be able to decide our own destiny. Secondly, we have become more aware that we are social beings, that we only reach our fullness if we share our projects, failures, joys and illusions with other people: how much we have missed the conversations at work, the coffees with friends, sports, or a simple walk!

We are now facing an uncertain future, both socially and economically: these are the collateral consequences of the serious health crisis. It certainly seems reasonable to spend time analyzing what we could have done better, but perhaps it is more appropriate to stop and think about what each of us can do to alleviate the suffering of many people. At critical times such as these, we must join forces, each of us must contribute what we do best.

For this reason, we are convinced that the university is called to play a fundamental role as the driving force behind the social and economic development of any society, centered on three fundamental tasks, which now acquire a new meaning.

On the one hand, we train professionals prepared to work in a highly complex world; on the other hand, we want our students to have a deep-rooted sense of solidarity, so that they can put their knowledge at the service of the most vulnerable. During the confinement, it has become more evident that the quality of a community resides in the mutual financial aid and in the eagerness to partnership. It will probably be easier from now on to explain to student body the importance of being well trained, of being prepared to overcome obstacles and extraordinary demands together.

Secondly, in universities we do research to provide useful solutions that improve the quality of life of society. At this time, it is crucial that we find vaccines and retrovirals to deal with covid-19. But the pandemic also presents us with challenges in other areas, such as the social and psychological impact of the health crisis, digital transformation, the future of teleworking, macroeconomics and law, to name just a few scientific areas. These weeks we have seen that the survival of society depends on knowledge or, as the classics used to say, on wisdom. Without that basis, politics, Economics and any other human activity suffers. Let us hope that this status will make society better understand that investing in research is profitable, because it allows us to anticipate some problems, solve others quickly, and prepare to face the challenges of a global world in which - for better and for worse - no one is isolated.

The third mission statement of the University is the transfer of experience, technology and knowledge to society. During the pandemic we have made available to the health authorities our research, our technology, our laboratories, our healthcare capacity. Perhaps this is one of the most difficult challenges posed by the pandemic: the skill to articulate the scientific knowledge with the public management . In many places, the partnership university - business has been developed, which has allowed the rise of applied research . But we must recognize that there is room for improvement in this area: the relationship between politicians and managers and scientists must become increasingly fluid. In fact, the countries where the crisis has been best controlled are those where each has respected its role and a high level of partnership has been achieved.

In Navarra we have a solid, complementary university system with the capacity to undertake common projects. During the pandemic, we have been involved in several solidarity initiatives, we have supported the health system, we have quickly transformed face-to-face classes in teaching online and we have adapted the operation of our institutions to teleworking in an efficient way. Our commitment now is to contribute to the economic, social and emotional recovery of our community. We will try to achieve this by contributing what we know how to do: to train caring professionals; to advance in the research with social impact; to offer our knowledge and partnership to public institutions and companies.