On 26 September, the minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, announced the winners of the 2025 National Research Awards and the National Youth Research Awards. These honours recognise researchers with long scientific careers and international impact in their fields.

Maria Pau Ginebra Molins, head of the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering Group (BBT) and scientific director of the Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence at the UPC’s Barcelona Research Center in Multiscale Science and Engineering, was awarded the 2025 National Research Award in the Leonardo Torres Quevedo category for Engineering and Architecture. Ginebra, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering who teaches at the Barcelona East School of Engineering (EEBE), was recognised for “her outstanding career in biomedical engineering, leading pioneering research in biomaterials for bone regeneration and clinical applications”. Her work has transferred scientific knowledge into technologies with direct impact on medical practice.

Ginebra is also part of the Health Research and Innovation Institute (IRIS) and an adjunct researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). She has led many competitive projects, including BAMBBI, which received an ERC Advanced Grant, and founded the spin-off Mimetis Biomaterials. She has also been recognised four times with an ICREA Acadèmia award.

Awards for young talent
The National Youth Research Awards recognise Spanish researchers under 40 with outstanding early career achievements. Two UPC researchers were among those honoured in the 2025 edition: Sergi Abadal and Jezabel Curbelo.

Sergi Abadal Cavallé received the award in the Matilde Ucelay category for Engineering and Architecture. A researcher in the UPC’s Department of Computer Architecture and a professor at the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB), Abadal was recognised for his achievements as a young researcher in computer and communication engineering, making significant advances in massively parallel computing architectures and next-generation interconnections. He has also received a European Research Council Proof of Concept grant to emulate wireless communication between chips in a computing system.

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