The Sant Jordi 2024 prize for life sciences recognizes CREAF researcher Marcos Fernández Martínez

CREAF researcher Marcos Fernández Martínez has received the Pius Font i Quer 2024 Life Sciences Prize awarded by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), integrated into the Sant Jordi Prizes 2024 in the biological sciences section. The award highlights the scientific work of the CREAF researcher around the effects of climate, the availability of nutrients and the human impact on the functioning of ecosystems. One of the recent works of which he is the first author warns of the risk of destabilization of carbon sequestration in large regions of the planet and is a scientific article published in the prestigious journal Nature. He also took part in the report '10 New Insights in Climate Science' presented at COP28, a collection of 10 urgent messages from 67 scientists from 24 countries to contribute to the road map of this international summit. His career in science also highlights that he has received an ERC-Starting Grant-2022 awarded by the European Research Council.  

The Sant Jordi Awards have more than 90 years of history and promote research and the creation of new knowledge in the Catalan language. At the ceremony of the 2024 edition, the scholarships of the different sections and subsidiary societies were awarded, as well as the prizes, grants and scholarships of the IEC foundations. Among the awards, the Prat de la Riba to the singer-songwriter Raimon stands out, for his defense, promotion and projection of the Catalan language and culture, and for his contribution to the cohesion of the Catalan-speaking territories.

The awarding ceremony was attended by Teresa Cabré – president of the IEC–, Natàlia Garriga – councilor for Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya–, Ester Capella – councilor for Territory of the Catalan government– as well as the rectors of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Daniel Crespo, and from the Universitat de Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, and the mayor of Xàtiva, Roger Cerdà, among many other people.

Among many others, the Sant Jordi Awards 2024 have also distinguished the 'Club de Dones Politècniques pel Canvi Professional' and the educational program 'Let's Go Engineering' aimed at women engineers, both linked to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, as well as the 'chief architect of the Barcelona City Council for the 'Eixos verds' project.