The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, today highlighted how this year's National Research Awards reflect the growing weight of female talent in science that is done in Galician centers and agencies: “The future of Science in Galicia has a female face,” he said. This was transferred to two of the researchers from Galician universities who were distinguished by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, to whom he reiterated the Government’s commitment to science and technology, with legislative measures such as the new Law on Science and with more calls for aid to researchers and better financed.
Pedro Blanco, accompanied by the subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, met this morning with Beatriz Pelaz and Verónica Bolón, who, together with Cristina Blanco, were awarded a ruling that was known last week, in the form of researchers under 40 years of age. In particular, Beatriz Pelaz was awarded in the modality ‘Felisa Martín Bravo’, referring to the physical, material and earth sciences. She is a principal researcher at the Singular Center for Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) and a senior lecturer at the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she co-chairs the BioNanoTools group. For her part, Verónica Bolón, who attended the meeting accompanied by Moisés Canal, Vice-Rector for Degrees and Internationalization of the University of A Coruña (UDC), achieved the National Research Award in the modality ‘María Andresa Casamayor’, referring to mathematics to information and communication technologies. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies of the UDC and a researcher at the ICT Research Center (CITIC). They are joined by the researcher Cristina Blanco Sío López, awarded in the modality ‘María Moliner’, referring to the humanities.
The National Research Awards recognize the merit of those researchers of Spanish nationality who are doing outstanding work in scientific fields of international relevance and who contribute significantly to the advancement of scientific knowledge and the progress of humanity.
Pedro Blanco recalled that this year the Ministry of Science included for the first time measures to promote the presentation of balanced candidacies, which reflect the reality of science in Spain, in which men and women participate.