The professor of Electronic Technology at the University of Vigo and CINTECX researcher Jesús Doval will join the Royal Galician Academy of Sciences today as a permanent academic of the Technical Sciences section, a recognition of his enormous research work aimed at solving problems related to industrial electronics and electrical energy technologies.
“This recognition of my professional activity is an honor for me. The achievements that led me to be chosen to be part of this institution are due, in one way or another, to the support and collaboration of many people who have played a fundamental role in my evolution as a person and in my professional career,” explains the professor at the School of Industrial Engineering and researcher at the Center for Research in Technologies, Energy and Industrial Processes, Cintecx, where he directs the APET group, Applied Power Electronic Technology, focused on solving relevant social problems related to industrial electronics and electrical energy technologies, applying his results to the improvement of sectors such as transport or energy.
“I’m talking about family, colleagues in the research group, doctoral students, colleagues from UVigo and other entities with whom I collaborate, professors, supervised students, support staff in the activities carried out,” adds Doval, while emphasizing that as an academic at the RAGC, he will collaborate in all activities that are organized “oriented towards the promotion of science and technology that can contribute to the social and economic development of Galicia.”
Immense research work
Jesús Doval develops research projects in collaboration with national and international companies such as Navantia, Repsol or Indra. In recent years he has directed around 40 projects with public or private companies, with a total funding of over 1.5 million euros. He works on processes such as the creation of smart and sustainable factories; design of power plants; defense systems for Navy ships; development of electronic power converters for electric propulsion ships, for mining drilling platforms or for renewable energy applications; decarbonization of thermal processes in the canning sector; improvement of biomass heating systems… up to and development of electronic converters that allow the supply of electrical energy to ships during docking. He is the author of several patents, both Spanish and European.
In the last ten years he has published 237 scientific papers in the main international journals. He has collaborated with researchers from 25 universities, institutes and research centers in other countries. In the field of education, he has supervised 12 doctoral theses and 104 final-year, master’s and undergraduate theses. He also conducts professional training courses adapted to the needs of companies to increase their return on investment, reduce downtime and improve the skills and motivation of their staff.
Internationally, he is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Society of Industrial Electronics and the Society of Power Electronics. He is also the editor of several international publications in these fields. As an engineer, he has worked in companies in different industrial sectors, particularly petrochemicals, electricity generation and transport, automotive and electronics; both in Spain and the United Kingdom.
Induction speech focused on the potential of power electronics
The induction ceremony will be held at the Pazo de San Roque, in Compostela, at 6:30 p.m., and his speech, entitled Conversion of electrical energy and power electronics, will focus on the technology with which all his activity in recent years has been related. “Specifically, I will present the potential and function of power electronics in the conversion of electrical energy”, explains the researcher.
Surrounded by several vice-rectors and the director of the EEI
The laudatio will be given by the emeritus professor of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Vigo, Pedro Merino. The event will be chaired by the president of the RAGC, Juan Lema, and will be attended by the secretary general of Universities, José Alberto Díez de Castro, as well as various representatives of the University of Vigo: the vice-rector for Research, Transfer and Innovation, Belén Rubio; the vice-rector for Degrees and Teaching Innovation, Alfonso Lago; the vice-rector for Teaching Staff and Academic Organization, Adela Sánchez, and the director of the School of Industrial Engineering, José Fariña, as well as various representatives of different Galician political, cultural, scientific and academic institutions.
UVigo Academics in the RAGC
The entry of Jesús Doval as a permanent academic of the RAGC makes him the sixth UVigo professor to hold this position. The first were Fernando Pérez (2014) and Pedro Merino (2015) in the Technical Sciences section, who were later joined by the late professor José Pazos Arias, in 2016, also in Technical Sciences.
In 2021, former rector Alberto Gago joined the institution, in the Economic and Social Sciences section, and in 2022, Herminia Domínguez, also in Technical Sciences.