02 October 2024
Bilbao Campus
The Ada Byron Award of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto, in its XI edition, already has winners. The senior category went to Patricia Horcajada Cortés from Madrid, an expert in the design of new multifunctional materials for application in energy, health and the environment. The under 35 category went to Alba González Álvarez from Burgos, a pioneer in the development of personalized 3D implants. The jury highlighted the outstanding contribution of both professionals to innovation and technological progress.
The Ada Byron Award of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto, in its XI edition, already has winners. The senior category went to Patricia Horcajada Cortés from Madrid, an expert in the design of new multifunctional materials for application in energy, health and the environment. The under 35 category was awarded to Alba González Álvarez from Burgos, a pioneer in the development of personalized 3D implants. The jury remarked on the outstanding contribution of both professionals to innovation and technological progress.
Patricia Horcajada Cortés, head of the Advanced Porous Materials Unit at IMDEA Energía, is an outstanding scientist in the field of Materials Science. Her highly multidisciplinary activity focuses on the design and synthesis of new porous materials for application in strategic fields. She has pioneered the application of MOF-type structures in drug delivery, oral detoxification and agriculture. With a wide network of collaborations, she has developed more than 70 new MOF structures and is an internationally recognized researcher.
The winner of the young award, Alba González Álvarez, holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and is the creator of Xcure Surgical, a start-up that creates personalized implants and customized surgical instrumentation for patients requiring complex bone reconstructions of the human body. With more than a decade of academic, industrial and hospital experience in medical device R&D&I, she is a pioneer in the clinical implementation of 3D technology in the hospital environment for patients with complex clinical cases.
Increase in the number of nominations
The Ada Byron Award for Woman Technologist was created eleven years ago in Spain by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto. It is sponsored by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Emakunde - Basque Institute for Women, Danobatgroup and with the collaboration of Innobasque and Innolab. This award, which has become a national reference, visualizes women's work in the scientific, technological and engineering fields, while seeking to encourage women's vocations in the field of R & D.
This year, with 178 candidates, twelve more than in the previous edition, it was the edition with the highest number of candidates and the most promising young women. The geographical origin is very varied, as well as their backgrounds, which include professionals in the fields of Computer Science, Chemistry, Aeronautics, Pharmacy, Industrial and Telecommunications and Environment. The women come from various work sectors, with a predominance of social profiles and participation in various forums for the dissemination of technology in society, especially among young people.
In addition to the Spanish edition, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto has five other awards in five other countries in America: Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile, and is working to extend it to Brazil.
In the Spanish edition, over the last eleven years, the following have been awarded in the senior category: Montserrat Meya, expert in artificial intelligence and machine translation; Asunción Gómez, researcher in the so-called “semantic technologies”; Nuria Oliver, director of I+DTelefonica; Regina Llopis Rivas, PhD in Mathematics Applied to Artificial Intelligence from the University of California Berkeley (USA); María Ángeles Martín Prats, full professor at the University of Seville in the Department of Electronic Engineering; Concepción Alicia Monje Micheret, researcher in Robotics and full professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid; Laura María Lechuga Gómez, graduate in Chemistry and coordinator of one of the European projects for the study of COVID-19; Elena García Armada, PhD in Industrial Engineering, Research Scientist at CSIC and President of MarsiBionics; Lourdes Verdes Montenegro, scientist and researcher specializing in radio astronomical observations; and María José Escalona, specialist in software engineering.
The winners of the Ada Byron Youth Award in previous editions were: Ana Freire, Engineer and PhD in Computer Science, Researcher and teacher at the School of Engineering of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona); Susana Ladra González, PhD in Computer Science and Graduate in Mathematics; Jordina Torrents Barrena, PhD from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in the field of artificial intelligence; Julia Guiomar Niso Galán, PhD in Biomedical Engineering and researcher in the study of early markers of Alzheimer's disease, and cancer researcher and astronaut, Sara García Alonso. More information.
12th edition of Forotech
The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Deusto will also be holding its Engineering and Technology Week, Forotech, from October 16 to 18. As with the Ada Byron Award, the aim of this initiative is to encourage vocations towards research and technological development, especially among women. To this end, an extensive program of activities has been organized on the Bilbao and San Sebastian campuses, including the chance to go up in a hot air balloon and the sustainability challenge proposed by Ferran Adrià, both events on the Bilbao campus.
In this 12th edition, Forotech focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 8, an SDG that aims to achieve sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth that benefits all people equally and does not harm the environment. This goal can only be achieved by creating jobs for all, especially for women, young people and other vulnerable groups, and by promoting entrepreneurship and technological innovation. Full quality employment aims to increase the well-being of the population. More information.
