{"id":262084,"date":"2026-04-08T14:48:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/?p=262084"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T07:37:26","slug":"marta-pazos-curras-parar-en-la-investigacion-implicaba-estancarse-y-muchas-mujeres-se-quedaron-por-el-camino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/marta-pazos-curras-parar-en-la-investigacion-implicaba-estancarse-y-muchas-mujeres-se-quedaron-por-el-camino\/","title":{"rendered":"Marta Pazos Curr\u00e1s: \u00abStopping in research meant stagnating, and many women were left behind\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINTECX is dedicating the month of April to Marta Pazos Curr\u00e1s, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Vigo and researcher in the BIOSUV group, who features in the centre\u2019s illustrated calendar and is the latest interviewee in the initiative Open Camera CINTECX for Women and Men in STEM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her scientific career began \u2018almost by chance\u2019 in the final year of her degree, thanks to a collaboration grant. \u2018I had never considered becoming a researcher,\u2019 she admits. \u2018My plan was to study Medicine, but I started collaborating in a department, I liked it, and I never left.\u2019 More than twenty years later, she remains linked to the same group where she took her first steps in research.<\/p>\n

Her current work focuses on two major areas: environmental technologies applied to water and soil treatment, and biotechnology, with research lines aimed at waste valorization through microorganisms. \u2018Research is anything but monotonous: every day brings a new challenge,\u2019 she summarizes.<\/p>\n

A key moment in her career was her postdoctoral stage abroad, supported by the \u00c1ngeles Alvari\u00f1o contracts from the Xunta de Galicia. For two years she carried out research stays in centres in Denmark and Portugal. \u2018There, research was done without the constant pressure we have here,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018People worked until four in the afternoon and then everyone had their personal life.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Glass ceiling and work\u2013life balance in science<\/h3>\n

In the interview, Pazos Curr\u00e1s speaks openly about the difficulties of balancing motherhood with a research career and the impact of the glass ceiling in the scientific field. \u2018Stopping meant stagnating, and many women were left behind,\u2019 she says. A mother of two, she remembers a period marked by very long working days and a lack of work\u2013life balance measures that at the time did not take motherhood into account in academic evaluations. \u2018You had to meet the minimum requirements, whether you were a man or a woman, whether you had just given birth or not.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite this, she acknowledges that the effort has paid off. Today she is the youngest full professor in her department. \u2018Now that I\u2019ve reached this point, I feel I\u2019ve achieved the highest I could aspire to,\u2019 she notes, although she warns that progress in equality and work\u2013life balance \u2018has come too late for many.\u2019<\/p>\n

As a final message, the researcher stresses that \u2018research has no gender,\u2019 but highlights the need to continue making these realities visible in order to move towards a fairer scientific system. \u2018It\u2019s not just about implementing measures, but about changing mindsets,\u2019 she concludes, in line with the aim of Open Camera CINTECX for Women and Men in STEM<\/a> to give a voice to role models who help transform the scientific system from within.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The researcher features in the CINTECX illustrated calendar for the month of April<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":262077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duvi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262084"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262934,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262084\/revisions\/262934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cintecx.uvigo.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}