María Bolaños won the award given by the Campus del Agua de Ourense for her work on the synthesis, characterisation and application of biochar and hydrochar as catalysts in hydrogen production, supervised by Aída María Díez Sarabia and Marta María Pazos. In addition, the TFG entitled «Claro como a auga: unha nova vida para os residuos agroindustriais destined a decontaminación de drogas en augas residualais mediante adsorption e posterior degradación del contaminantes», by Verónica Laíño, also supervised by Aída María Díez and Marta María Pazos, won a second prize.
The University of Vigo celebrated last Monday the presentation of the VI Awards for Research, Transfer and Scientific Dissemination of the Campus Auga. In this edition, there are eleven award-winning works carried out by teaching and research staff and students of the UVigo and which address, in different formats, topics of functional food, agriculture and the environment and water resource management.
The award ceremony was attended by Manuel Reigosa, rector of the University of Vigo; Francisco Javier Rodríguez, vice-rector of the Ourense campus; Roberto Ignacio Fernández, director of the Auga Campus, and Nicolás Esmorís, general manager of Viaqua. In his speech, the rector stressed that these awards distinguish “a select group” of talent from the Ourense campus. In this regard, he emphasized the importance of recognizing and highlighting with initiatives such as this the research talent that grows in the academic institution, whether trained there or recruited, because, he indicated, “the society of the future is a knowledge society” and based on capabilities. Manuel Reigosa also highlighted the potential of the Auga Campus as “a unique and competitive tool” for the development of Ourense. For his part, Nicolás Esmorís stressed that Viaqua has already participated in these awards for six years and highlighted the public-private collaboration to advance in innovation, development and sustainability and to face the challenges in terms of water resources.
The Campus Auga Awards are convened by the Vice-Rectorate of the Ourense Campus and funded through the agreements that UVigo has with the company Viaqua Xestión Integral de Augas de Galicia SAU and also with the Ministry of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training to finance Campus Auga, the specialisation project of the Ourense campus accredited by the Xunta de Galicia. With a total budget of almost 9,000 euros, the awards aim to recognise and stimulate the efforts of researchers who contribute to the development of the Water Campus.
Eleven award-winning works
In the case of final degree and master’s projects, four proposals have been awarded in this edition. The doctoral thesis focused on the evaluation of the effect of the fungicide tetraconazole on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae EC1118™ using a metabolomic approach, carried out by Laura Gallego and supervised by Raúl Iglesias and Elena Martínez, has been awarded. In addition to María Bolaños’ TFG, another work on future projections of extreme flows in the main cities of the Miño-Sil basin, carried out by Sabrina Hernández and supervised by Diego Fernández and María Teresa de Castro, has been awarded.
As for the doctoral thesis category, two awards are given: one to Impact of tetracyclines on microbial communities in agricultural soils, by Vanesa Santas and supervised by Manuel Arias and David Fernández Calviño, and another to Territorial models of use of thermal resources in Europe, a thesis by José Ángel Vázquez Barquero and supervised by Santiago Lago and Pedro Araújo.
The VI Awards for Research, Transfer and Scientific Dissemination of the Auga Campus also recognize the best scientific contributions, specifically several articles published in prestigious journals. These are Profile of metals and metalloids as a traceability fingerprint for wines from any protected Galician designation of origin, by Cecilia Araceli Martínez, Gonzalo Astray, Juan Carlos Mejuto and Jesús Simal; and Projected changes in the contributions of atmospheric humidity transport associated with climate warming in the North Atlantic, by José Carlos Fernández, Albenis Pérez, Jorge Eiras, Raquel Nieto, Luis Gimeno and Stefan Rahimi-Esfarjani. In addition, an honorable mention is awarded to Use of Three Different Nanoparticles to Reduce Cd Availability in Soils: Effects on Germination and Early Growth of Sinapis alba L., by Rocío González, Andrés Rodríguez, David Fernández, Manuel Arias and Daniel Arenas.
As for the awards for the best transfer results, two proposals were distinguished: the projects Bioprocessing of insects to obtain new proteins of high nutritional value, participated by José Manuel Salgado and José Manuel Domínguez, and VitiCast: innovative solutions for the prediction of fungal diseases in the vine, attended by María Fernández and Francisco Javier Rodríguez. The dissemination category was left empty.
The winners collected their diplomas from the authorities present, with Martín Alemparte, director of the Galician Food Quality Agency of the Ministry of Rural Environment, participating in the event; Rosendo Fernández, provincial deputy; Tamara Silva, councillor for Education and Youth; Emilio Domínguez, general secretary of the Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation; Manuel Pardo, delegate of the Xunta de Galicia in Ourense; Eladio Santos, Subdelegate of the Government in Ourense; Isaac Fernández, project manager of Viratec; Juanjo de la Cerda, managing director of Clusaga; Santiago Tauntón, Human Resources Director of Coren, and Leticia Rodríguez, Innovation Director of Viaqua. The event ended with a performance by the mezzo-soprano Carmen Gabriela Ferrara.