The UAB awarded at the Open Science Awards of Catalonia
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has been recognised in the first edition of the Open Science Awards of Catalonia with the Montserrat Sebastià Award, a category intended for institutions and entities. The award, endowed with 75,000 euros, acknowledges the role of the UAB as a leading public university in the integration of open science into its institutional strategy.
The distinction also recognises the University for its implementation of open access policies, and the promotion of the reuse of data and resources according to the FAIR principles (from the English acronym for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable).
The Open Science Awards of Catalonia are organised by the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia, the Consortium of University Services of Catalonia (CSUC), and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI). The aim is to recognise researchers and institutions that have contributed to making research results more accessible to the academic community and society as a whole.
The winners were announced by Núria Montserrat, minister for Research and Universities, at an institutional event that took place on 11 December. Minister Montserrat defended that "open science aims to consolidate transparency and accessibility in the management of research data and promote open knowledge to society".
In addition to the UAB, Josep Perelló, professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Barcelona, was distinguished with the Mercè Durfort Prize, endowed with 35,000 euros. Blanca Arias, lecturer in the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at the Pompeu Fabra University, and Jordi Gené, researcher in proximal remote sensing and artificial intelligence at the Institute for Research and Agro-Food Technologies (IRTA), were each been awarded a Joan Modolell Prize, a category that includes a cash prize of 15,000 euros.
In this first edition, a total of 39 applications were submitted. The Mercè Durfort Award (for senior researchers) received 14 applications (7 men and 7 women). The Joan Modolell Award (for researchers up to 40 years old) received 13 applications (6 women and 7 men).
In the entities category, the Montserrat Sebastià Award, a category that includes universities, research centres and hospitals, received 12 applications. The jury noted the high level of all candidates in this first edition and the difficulty this posed in determining the individuals and entities to be awarded.
The Open Science Awards of Catalonia are part of the Catalan Open Science Strategy, approved by the Plenary of the Interdepartmental Commission for Research and Innovation (CIRI) of the Government of Catalonia, and Law 9/2022, which identifies open science as the backbone of research in Catalonia.
The names of the three award categories pay tribute to deceased Catalan researchers of notable prestige within the scientific community: cell biologist Mercè Durfort (1943–2022), biochemist and molecular geneticist Joan Modolell (1927–2023), and researcher in information ecology and digital content management Montserrat Sebastià (1957–2014).
The award ceremony will take place in February 2026.
The UAB, with Sustainable Development Goals
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