Óscar Jiménez Arranz awarded the 2023–2024 Extraordinary PhD Prize

Óscar Jiménez Arranz, former ICCUB-IEEC doctoral student, has been honored with the Premi Extraordinari de Doctorat 2023–2024 in recognition of the outstanding quality of his PhD thesis. This award is granted annually by the University of Barcelona to graduates whose research demonstrates exceptional academic excellence and make significant contributions to their field.

Dr. Jiménez Arranz completed his PhD at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) under the supervision of Mercè Romero and former ICCUB Director Xavier Luri. His thesis, “Dynamical characterisation of the Magellanic Clouds with Gaia data and the KRATOS simulations”, focuses on the detailed dynamics of our closest neighbouring galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC), by combining the unprecedented astrometric dataset from the Gaia mission with advanced numerical simulations.

The award ceremony will take place on 28 April in the Paranimf of the Historic Building at the University of Barcelona, celebrating the achievements of doctoral graduates from the 2023–2024 academic year. Faculty members, fellow researchers, and family will join the event to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of the awardees.

The Extraordinary PhD Prize highlights both academic merit and research excellence. Following his PhD, Óscar Jiménez Arranz has continued his research career as a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University, further advancing the study of galactic dynamics.

We warmly congratulate Óscar Jiménez Arranz on this outstanding achievement and look forward to his continued contributions to astrophysics.