AmicsUAB awards the people and organisations standing out for their contributions to the UAB

The AmicsUAB association held its annual festival in which it awarded individuals and organisations in recognition for their contributions to the UAB. The event took place on 16 November in Barcelona. The "Amic dels Amics" awards went to professor Xavier Montalbán, head of the Neurology Unit at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital; Jesús Alturo and Tània Alaix, palaeographers who certified the oldest text written in Catalan; and Margarita Arboix, former rector of the UAB. The technological centre EURECAT was awarded a group prize, while the Lynx publishing house and lecturer Martí Pumarola received the "Amic de les Biblioteques" award.

17/11/2023

The annual celebration of the AmicsUAB Association, which this year reached its 21st edition, included institutional speeches by UAB Rector Javier Lafuente, UAB Social Council President Tania Nadal, and AmicsUAB Association President Susanna Baqué. The journalist Carles Prats conducted the event, which took place at UAB Casa Convalescència and featured a performance by the University Chamber Choir.

Individual awards

The Amic dels Amics awards recognise people with an outstanding career thanks to their relationship with the UAB and their social impact. This year four members of the teaching and research staff of the UAB received the award. The first was Xavier Montalbán, professor in the Department of Medicine at the UAB. At the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (VHIR), Montalban is head of the Neurology Service, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat), and head of the Neuroimmunology Research Group at VHIR. On behalf of Montalban, Manel Peiró received the award.

The same award was given to Jesús Alturo, professor of the Department of Antiquity and Middle Ages Studies, and Tania Alaix, researcher at the Palaeography, Codicology and Diplomacy Seminar of the UAB, who established, in a recent research, that the Liber iudicum preserved in La Seu d'Urgell was copied between 1060 and 1080—probably by Traver Radolf, presbyter of Santa Maria de Organyà—and is the oldest text written entirely in the Catalan language.

Former UAB Rector Margarita Arboix (2016-2020) also received the Amic dels Amics award. Arboix headed the institution during a period marked by the commemoration of the University's 50th anniversary, the promotion of new disruptive and interdisciplinary degrees, the launch of the ECIU University and the confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other milestones. She is professor of Veterinary Pharmacology and was also dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and director general of Agricultural and Livestock Resources of the Ministry for the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs.

Group and library awards

The UAB group award, aimed at entities that have made an outstanding social contribution, went this year to EURECAT, the main technology centre in Catalonia, which offers research and innovation services to the industrial sector. It is also one of the driving institutions of the Hub B30, an alliance committed to the development of the knowledge society in the territorial scope of the UAB. The award was collected by Xavier López, EURECAT's corporate and operations general manager.

And finally, the annual AmicsUAB festival also included the Amic de les Biblioteques awards, with which the UAB Library Service distinguishes individuals and organisations that contribute with their heritage or their dedication to enrich the collections and the work of the University libraries. This year, the award went to Lynx, a publishing house dedicated to the publication of ornithology and nature books—Josep del Hoyo and Jordi Sargatal, ornithologists and founders of the publishing house—and to Martí Pumarola, emeritus professor of the Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery at the UAB.

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