UAB Professor Maria Vanrell and student Ariadna Garnica receive the DonaTIC Award 2026
Maria Vanrell Martorell, chair professor in Artificial Intelligence and researcher at the Computer Vision Centre (CVC), and Ariadna Garnica Sevilla, student of the UAB degree in Telecommunication Systems Engineering, received the DonaTIC Award 2026 in the respective categories of Academic/Researcher and ICT University Student. Also recognised as finalists were student Uxia Illarisami Pérez Aguirre and lecturer Ana Oropesa, in the categories of ICT University Student and Communicator.
The awards ceremony was held on 19 October at the Petit Palau of the Palau de la Música Catalana. The DonaTIC Awards, presented by the Government of Catalonia through its Secretariat for Digital Policies, annually recognise outstanding women and initiatives in the field of digital technologies, with the aim of highlighting female talent, fostering interest in technology-related careers, and promoting a greater presence of women in leadership and decision-making roles within the sector.
The twelfth edition of the awards reached a record level of participation, with 164 entries submitted, and recognised thirteen professionals and two benchmark initiatives from the Catalan technology sector.
Dr Maria Vanrell Martorell received the DonaTIC Award 2026 in the Academic/Research category in recognition of her scientific career and contributions to the area of artificial intelligence and computer vision. Dr Maria Vanrell in is professor in Artificial Intelligence at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and researcher at the Computer Vision Centre (CVC). She has built a distinguished academic and scientific career, associated with the UAB and the CVC, with significant contributions to colour perception, image analysis and interpretation, and the development of intelligent systems capable of understanding the visual environment.
Ariadna Garnica Sevilla, student of the bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Systems Engineering, received the award as well in the ICT University Student category in recognition of her talent and initiatives as a female university student of the technologies sector.
In addition, Uxia Illarisami Pérez Aguirre, student of the double bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering + Telecommunication Systems Engineering, was selected as finalist in the same category, and Ana Oropesa Física, lecturer in the Department of Information and Communications Engineering, was selected finalist in the Communicator category.
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