ICN2 Women Talent Programme Recognises Female Scientists in Celebration of International Women’s Day

by Chema Arcos

Organised by the ICN2 Equal Opportunities Committee, the event included talks by ICN2 women researchers, a roundtable discussion on well-being in science, and an awards ceremony honouring the best women-led scientific contributions in various categories.

Last Friday, ICN2 hosted an event as part of the Women Talent Programme to celebrate International Women's Day (8 March). Organised by the ICN2 Equal Opportunities Committee, the event aimed to highlight, recognise and reward female scientific talent.

The day included a series of talks on scientific projects presented by some of the researchers who have been awarded in the previous edition of the programme (2024):

Dr Ivana Cavaliere: Bioinspired and biomimetic micro/nanoparticles for medical applications
Dr Marta Ruiz Ruiz: Real-time Microscopy of the Relaxation of a Glass
Dr Sara Martí Sanchez: Epitaxially driven phase selectivity of Sn in hybrid quantum nanowires
Dr Roberta Farris: Thermal properties of ALL-Inorganics 2D perovskites (TP ALL-IN 2D)
Dr Sonia Ruiz Raga: Automated multiplexed impedance spectroscopy with AI data processing for stability assessment of perovskite solar cells (AMISAI)

This was followed by the awards ceremony for this year's edition. This year there were 7 winners in 6 different categories:

ICN2 Best Published Paper Award – PhD Student: Jing Yu
ICN2 Best Published Paper Award – Postdoc (ex aequo): Marta Delgà
ICN2 Best Published Paper Award – Postdoc (ex aequo): Marianna Sledzinska
Women Talent Postdoc Grants: Silvia Favero
Women Talent Senior Grant: Rosa María González Gil
Senior Trajectory Award: María José Esplandiu
Best Female PhD Thesis Award: Razia Batool

The event concluded with a roundtable discussion on "The Perspective of Well-Being in Scientific Work" with last year's award winners. The talk addressed key issues such as gender inequality in science, work-life balance and the challenges faced by young researchers in advancing their careers, including non-permanent contracts and limited remuneration.

This initiative reinforces ICN2's commitment to equal opportunities in research and the recognition of female talent in science. It has been made possible thanks to funding from the Severo Ochoa Programme 2023-2026 (CEX2021-001214-S/ MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).