Margarita Salas Award ceremony in Stockholm
Prof. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, Head of the Interface Science Department at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin (Germany), has received the 4th ACES-Margarita Salas Award in Stockholm (Sweden) in the category of Physics, Mathematics and Engineering.
The awards, which are promoted by the Association of Spanish Scientists in Sweden (ACES) and are named after Margarita Salas, the pioneer in biochemistry and molecular biology in Spain, have been celebrating the scientific work of Spanish researchers with international impact, since 2021. They are sponsored by the Margarita Salas Foundation, the Ramón Areces Foundation and the Spanish Embassy in Sweden.
The awards ceremony, which was chaired by the Secretary General for Research of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish Government, Eva Ortega-Paíno, was held at the Spanish Embassy in Sweden, which organised a gala dinner attended by authorities and guests representing the scientific community of both countries: Spain and Sweden. A science symposium was also held beforehand at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which organises the Nobel Prizes, in honour of Beatriz Roldán, with the participation of leading researchers from the Swedish scientific community in the field of materials physics.
During her acceptance speech, Professor Roldán Cuenya expressed “the great honour and special pride” she felt in receiving this award named after a celebrated scientist, also from Asturias, “who has served as an inspiration and reference for many women like me, both within and beyond our borders.”
The award winner also highlighted that “My greatest satisfaction is knowing that my knowledge can be useful in solving some of the most urgent challenges of today's society, such as a just energy transition or the fight against the consequences of the rapid climate change we are experiencing.”
“Attending the awards ceremony in Stockholm each year is a highly emotional experience. It is a well-deserved tribute to Margarita Salas and a sign that her legacy and inspiration are alive among new generations of scientists who, like her, seek excellence and strive to make a positive impact on society to improve people’s lives and make this the main motivation for their work,” said Lucía Viñuela, daughter of the renowned Asturian scientist and Chair of the Foundation that bears her name.
According to Raimundo Pérez-Hernández, Director General of the Ramón Areces Foundation, “Beatriz Roldán is an example of scientific excellence and a model of inspiration for present and future generations. Our foundation upholds and reaffirms its commitment to the ACES-Margarita Salas Awards, which have become firmly established over the past four editions as a recognition of the most outstanding researchers abroad. It is our duty and responsibility to support the work of scientists who, like her, help us with their talent and efforts to move forward along the path of knowledge towards a better future, and I include in this group the excellent work done by all the Spanish researchers who make up ACES.”
For his part, the person responsible for the organisation of the ACES – Margarita Salas awards, Professor Francisco Vilaplana of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a member of the ACES Board of Directors, said that “for ACES it is an honour and a responsibility to be able to give visibility to the work of Spanish researchers like Professor Beatriz Roldán who, with her scientific excellence and international leadership in the area of materials physics, contributes to tackling some of our major social challenges such as the energy transition. The annual organisation of these awards represents our contribution, as a mechanism of scientific diplomacy, in recognising the international impact of Spanish scientists in the face of global challenges.”
The Spanish Ambassador in Stockholm, Luis Manuel Cuesta Civís, insisted on the importance of science diplomacy “in a world going through a period of fundamental changes that demand greater cooperation in research and innovation.” He insisted particularly on “the transition towards a low-carbon economy, which is the basis of the research of Professor Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, and which is seen as an opportunity to gain prosperity and energy security, generate industrial employment, encourage technological development and promote social justice.” In this regard, the Ambassador highlighted the importance of the work carried out by ACES in Sweden, the Margarita Salas Foundation and the Ramón Areces Foundation for Spanish science, and congratulated Professor Beatriz Roldán Cuenya for this well-deserved award.
RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE AND PROMOTING VOCATIONS
The awards panel recognised Professor Roldán Cuenya’s research excellence at the interface between physics, chemistry and materials engineering, focusing on the synthesis of nanostructured materials and the understanding of their catalytic mechanisms on surfaces by on-site and operational methods. Her work is highly relevant for the development of energy conversion processes with environmental and industrial impact. In addition, she has also been a mentor in the promotion of scientific vocations in the field of physics.
Her candidacy was put forward by the Association of Spanish Scientists in the Federal Republic of Germany (CERFA), and selected over other various top-level candidacies submitted from different parts of the world by the associations that make up the Network of Associations of Spanish Researchers and Scientists Abroad (RAICEX). With this prize, the award winner joins the list of notable awardees that includes Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, winner in the 2021 edition of these awards, Professor Francisco Mojica (2022) and Professor Ana Fernández-Sesma (2023).
