Close to a hundred people attended on Friday, 10 February 2023 the presentation of the 3rd Rosa Argelaguet i Isanta Award - Manresa Campus Award, to M. Roser Valentí Vall (Manresa, 1963), PhD in Physics, expert in theoretical physics from the condensed matter, and chairwoman of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) since last year. The delivery ceremony was held on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

M. Roser Valentí with the award organization committee at the award ceremony

The jury highlighted her teaching career and her research activity in the field of quantum materials. Xavier Obardors, from Manresa, like the awardee, gave the speech talking about the research career of Valentí, and highlighting some of her merits, as reseracher, but also as mentor, teacher and friend. The two met at the University of Barcelona in the 1980's and reunited after some years when they both were part of the advisory board of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden.

You can download Obradors' speech (in Catalan) here.

Maria Roser Valentí Vall is a physics graduate from the University of Barcelona. She began her professional career at the University of Florida. She was a research assistant and lecturer at the Institute of Physics at the University of Dortmund and has been a full professor and researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Goethe University, in Frankfurt, since 2003.

M. Roser Valentí with Mayor of Manresa Marc Aloy at the award ceremony

Her research focuses on the development of algorithms to solve the equations of quantum mechanics. She has also participated in a Covid-19 study together with the Goethe University, the University of California Berkeley and the Vivantes Hospital in Berlin. She has published more than 200 scientific articles, is a member of the editorial board of the journal Physical Review and is an expert evaluator at the German Research Foundation and the European Research Council.

On Friday, 10 February 2023 she received the third Rosa Argelaguet i Isanta Award, an award created in 2020 with the aim of recognizing, promoting and raising awareness of the role of women who have actively contributed to any teaching, research or dissemination activity in field of sciences. It also aims to maintain the legacy of Dr. Rosa Argelaguet i Isanta, who was a professor and director of UPC Manresa until her death three years ago (January 2020), and who was always involved in the goal of awakening scientific vocations in girls.

Rosa Argelaguet i Isanta award ceremony at the Manresa Campus Library (BCUM)

The award is promoted by the Manresa City Council, through the Departments of Education and Universities and of Feminism and LGBTI; by the UPC in Manresa, the Fundació Universitària del Bages FUB-UManresa and the Campus Library (BCUM).

Watch here the video by Canal Taronja about the award ceremony:

And take a look here at more photos of the event.