The event was attended by the Chairman of Ebro Foods, Antonio Hernández; the Deputy Vice-President for Scientific Programming at the CSIC, Jaime Carvajal; the Director of the Secretariat for Research Structures at the University of Seville, Santiago Hurtado; the Director-General for Research and Transfer at the Regional Government of Andalusia, Loreto del Valle; and the Second Deputy Mayor of Seville City Council, Álvaro Pimentel.
In her speech, the director of cicCartuja, Cecilia Gotor, highlighted the significance of the awards and their impact on research work, emphasising the first female winners, both of whom are her PhD students; and in the case of Miguel Anaya, the 2016 winner and recent recipient of the Felisa Martín Bravo National Research Prize for Young Researchers in the field of Physical, Materials and Earth Sciences.
The first prize was awarded to Mercedes Brenes, a young researcher at the Instituto de la Grasa in Seville, who entered the competition in the agri-food category. Her paper contributes to improving our understanding of acrylamide formation in processed olives, identifying the main chemical factors that influence its formation. Mercedes highlights the importance of certain compounds present in preservation solutions, such as glucose and asparagine, as well as the pH during sterilisation, proposing a method to anticipate its formation and help the industry reduce its presence in the final product.
For her part, Andrea Fernández has received the first runner-up prize, as her article demonstrates that NMR is a valid technique for studying the metabolic changes associated with vernalisation, a process critical to the flowering and fruiting of the strawberry plant. This highlights the use of NMR as a useful tool for improving agricultural practices. In her article, Christina Arvanitidou provides a detailed insight into how marine phytoplankton—which plays a key role in global carbon and nutrient cycles—responds to diurnal and seasonal cycles.
The second runner-up prize was awarded to David O. Tiede for a study reporting the first evidence of an exciton polariton condensate in perovskite quantum dots at room temperature, paving the way for new quantum technologies. Alejandra Pita proposes an Ir(II)/Ir(IV)-based catalytic cycle; her findings highlight the need to extend research into precious metal catalysts beyond conventional diamagnetic systems, paving the way for the design of more efficient and cost-effective catalysts
The cicCartuja Ebro Foods Awards recognise the work carried out by researchers aged under 31 who have published articles in high-impact international journals. The impact and social significance of the research conducted are also taken into account when awarding the prizes. The first prize is worth 15,000 euros, whilst the runners-up receive 5,000 euros each. These sums have been donated by the company Ebro Foods.