Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell, Chairman of the BIST Board of Trustees, and Prof. Lluís Torner, Director of the BIST community centre ICFO, have been recognised with Barcelona Gold Medals for scientific merit by the Barcelona City Council.
Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell (left) and Prof. Lluís Torner (right) have received Barcelona Gold Medals for Scientific Merit
In a ceremony that took place in the emblematic Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, presided over by the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, the director of ICFO, Lluís Torner, together with professor Andreu Mas-Collel and doctor and specialist in neurology, Mercè Boada, all Barcelona figures recognised internationally for their professional excellence, received the gold medal for scientific merit from the Barcelona City Council.
Mayor Jaume Collboni highlighted that Barcelona is a European scientific capital by quoting a phrase attributed to Newton: “if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. The science that is done in Barcelona, today referring to a global scale, “is done on the shoulders of giants who today we recognize with the Gold Medal for Scientific Merit“, he declared.
Andreu Mas-Colell is an economist, professor emeritus of the UPF and Barcelona GSE, and current president of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). He is distinguished in the institutional field “for his tireless dedication to positioning the city’s scientific fabric at the forefront of international excellence, through contributions from different institutions and entities. He is also recognized for his vital dedication to ideas, science, talent, universities, innovation and research“.
Lluís Torner, director of the BIST centre ICFO, is awarded the medal “for his lifelong dedication to the field of photonic sciences, and the ability to have combined his scientific enthusiasm with tireless management of ICFO, thanks to which he has placed the center at the forefront of global scientific excellence, projecting the metropolitan region and Barcelona as a world-class pole for research“.
The third awardee was Mercè Boada, neurologist and founder of the ACE Foundation. She is awarded the medal “for her lifelong dedication to the study of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and for her innovative approach to the fight against the disease , through non-pharmacological treatment based on the patient’s holistic care, including improving their independence and quality of life“. Their work has contributed to positioning Barcelona as an international reference hub for research excellence in Alzheimer’s disease.
Congratulations to the awardees!
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ICFO news
Barcelona City Council (Ajuntament de Barcelona)