The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) reaffirms its position as a hub of scientific talent. The Catalan Section of the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ-Cat) has announced the recipients of its annual awards, among whom are two researchers related with the institution: Prof. José A. Berrocal and Dr Josep Esteve Guasch.
Prof. José A. Berrocal, group leader at ICIQ and ICREA professor, has been awarded the 2025 Marcial Moreno-Mañas Award, now in its 13th edition. This distinction recognises the scientific excellence achieved during the early years of a research career.
Upon learning of the award, Prof. Berrocal highlighted its collective value: “Receiving the Marcial Moreno-Mañas Award is an honour and, above all, a motivation to continue doing science with rigour, creativity and impact. It is a very special recognition not only of my career, but also of the collective effort of all the people with whom I have had the good fortune to work.”
His research focuses on the design of stimulus-responsive materials, combining organic, supramolecular and polymer chemistry with a strong emphasis on sustainability. The award, endowed with €1,500, also includes an invitation to deliver a keynote lecture at the official award ceremony. With this distinction, Prof. Berrocal joins a list of previous awardees that also includes ICIQ group leader Prof. Rubén Martín, who received the award in 2016.
In the category of excellence in doctoral research, the Josep Castells Award has been granted to Dr. Josep Esteve Guasch for his thesis on enantioselective carbene transfer, supervised by Prof. Marcos García Suero. In the words of the awardee, this research develops “new methodologies for the efficient construction of chiral centres, with potential applications in drug synthesis and biomedical research”.
The official award ceremony will be held at the end of the first quarter of the year at the Faculty of Sciences of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
About RSEQ-Cat
The Catalan Section of the Real Sociedad Española de Química brings together chemistry professionals in Catalonia with the aim of promoting the development of the discipline and increasing public awareness of its economic and social importance.
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