2025 National Research Awards

The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, announced on 26 September the names of the winners of the National Research Awards and the National Research Awards for Young Researchers 2025, which distinguish those researchers who stand out for their extensive scientific career and international relevance in their respective research areas.

Maria Pau Ginebra Molins, head of the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering Research Group (BBT) and scientific director of the Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence at the UPC’s Multi-Scale Science and Engineering Research Centre, has been honoured with the 2025 National Research Award in the Leonardo Torres Quevedo category, in Engineering and Architecture. The professor from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and lecturer at the Barcelona East School of Engineering (EEBE) has been awarded for “her extraordinary career in the field of biomedical engineering, where she has led pioneering research in the development of biomaterials for bone regeneration and clinical applications”. Her research activity has enabled the transfer of scientific knowledge to technological solutions with a direct impact on medical practice.

Ginebra, who is also part of the Health Research and Innovation Institute (IRIS) and is an associate researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), has led numerous competitive projects, including the BAMBBI project –distinguished with an ERC Advanced Grant–, and has founded the spin-off Mimetis Biomaterials. She has also been honoured, on four occasions, with the ICREA Acadèmia awards.

Awards for the Youngest Talent

The National Research Awards for Young Researchers, which recognise the merit of Spanish researchers aged up to 40 who have achieved relevant accomplishments in the early stages of their careers, have in turn honoured two UPC researchers: Sergi Abadal and Jezabel Curbelo.

Sergi Abadal Cavallé has received the award in the Matilde Ucelay category, in Engineering and Architecture. A researcher in the Department of Computer Architecture at the UPC and a lecturer at the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB), he received the Award for his outstanding work as a young researcher in the field of computer and communications engineering, making significant advances in massively parallel computing architectures and the development of efficient next-generation interconnections. Abadal has also been distinguished with a Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for emulating wireless communication between the chips of a computer system.

Jezabel Curbelo Hernández has been honoured in the María Andresa Casamayor category, in Mathematics and Information and Communication Technologies. She is a professor at the Department of Mathematics at the UPC, a member of the Centre for Mathematical Research (CRM) and teaches at the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) and the Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics (FME). She has been awarded for her outstanding career in applied mathematics to geophysics and fluid dynamics, with pioneering contributions in turbulent transport, thermal convection, and planetary dynamics. She has received a L'Oréal-UNESCO 'For Women in Science' award and a Leonardo Grant from the BBVA Foundation, among other distinctions.