In 1989 he returned to Spain as a research professor for the Spanish National Research Council and carried out an important role as director of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. In 1998 the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutional Biology, a new research center located in Valencia, was interested in including Alberch to its staff. He died on March 13, 1998, at the age of 43.
He resumed his academic career in Spain in 1989 as a prominent researcher for the Spanish National Research Council, leading the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Two years later, he was approached by the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutional Biology in Valencia to join its faculty, but his life was cut short when he died on March 13, 1998.