The economist Jaume Ventura and the virologist Júlia Vergara-Alert have received today the National Research Award, the most important scientific award given in Catalonia, in a ceremony held at the National Theater of Catalonia and chaired by President Pere Aragonès.
Jaume Ventura, director of the Center for Research in International Economics (CREI), has been distinguished in the main category of the prize, endowed with 40,000 euros. The jury has selected him “for his pioneering research in the field of international economics, which has contributed to building a model of world economic trade that is studied in the best doctoral programs in the world.”
He has made important contributions in his studies on speculative bubbles, debt crises and the relationship between globalization and growth.
With a PhD from Harvard University, he began his career in the United States, where he was a tenured professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before returning to Catalonia in 2002. He is currently a professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and Barcelona School of Economics (BSE), as well as director and researcher at CREI.
“When I made the decision to return, I found myself in an environment where excellence was encouraged. Research cannot be done in isolation and excellence multiplies the results,” Ventura declared last February when the award was announced.
The award, given annually by the Generalitat and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), is given to researchers who work in Catalonia and who are recognized internationally for having contributed to the progress of a scientific discipline.
Júlia Vergara-Alert, from the Center for Research in Animal Health (IRTA-CReSA), has been awarded for her research on the covid virus in the Young Talent category, endowed with 10,000 euros. A specialist in viruses of animal origin that are transmitted to people, she has directed the coronavirus study group at the IRTA institute since 2019, shortly before the pandemic was declared. Her research group works with animal models to study the SARS-CoV-2 virus, develop vaccines against it, and search for new therapies for covid.
In the rest of the categories, without financial endowment, the National Research Award has been granted to the Marató Foundation of TV3 in the Scientific Communication section for having become “a backbone tool for citizen mobilization”.
The BBVA Foundation has been awarded in the Scientific Patronage category for “its philanthropic career in financing Catalan research centers” such as, among others, the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (IRB).
The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) has been awarded in the Innovation category, which rewards the creation of science-based companies. In the case of the ICFO, the National Award goes to the company LuxQuanta, which develops and markets quantum keys to guarantee the security of communications.
Finally, in the category of Public-Private Partnership in RD, the National Prize has been awarded to the “UPF-CaixaBank-Economia en temps real” initiative. This initiative has made it possible to evaluate in real time the effects of public sector aid to prevent the increase in inequality during the pandemic.
The winners were chosen by a jury of ten specialists from different disciplines including biomedicine, economics, physics, chemistry, anthropology and philology.
