Yesterday, on the 19^th of March, the award ceremony of premis Amics del País took place, where a researcher from IREC, Karen Quintana Torres, was awarded a mobility grant for researchers under 35 years old.

The event, organized by La Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa d’Amics del País and held at the Saló de Cent of the Ajuntament de Barcelona, represents the entity’s strong commitment to promoting research and knowledge, and working towards equal opportunities and social cohesion. This event was presented by the Excm. Sr. Jaume Collboni Cuadrado, Mayor of Barcelona, and Sir. Miquel Roca i Junyent, President of Amics del País, and this year’s edition also featured the participation of Dr. Josep Tabernero, Director of the l’Institut d’Oncologia de la Vall d’Hebron, who delivered the opening speech.

In this year’s edition, 15 grants, each worth 4.500€, were awarded to young researchers and PhD students linked to universities and research centres in Catalonia, under the age of 35. These grants aim to promote the development of research and teaching at Catalan universities worldwide, giving the awardees the opportunity to spend a minimum of 3 months at foreign research centres and universities.

Thanks to this grant, Karen Quintana will do a research stay at the Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT) at the University of Bath, in the United Kingdom. There, Karen will study how to assess the sustainability of renewable maritime fuel.

Currently, Karen Quintana is a researcher of the Sustainable Fuels group of the Energy Storage, Harvesting and Catalysis department at IREC, and she focuses on developing a sustainable process for synthesizing e-MGO (Electro Marine Gas Oil), from carbon dioxide and water, within the framework of the SUPORT project.