On 7 November, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) held the ceremony for the Extraordinary Doctorate Awards (Premis Extraordinaris de Doctorat), which honour the best doctoral theses defended in recent academic years. In the latest edition, several ICN2 researchers—and former researchers—were among the awardees, representing a variety of disciplines and research areas.

Among them are Xu Han and Zhifu Liang, from the Advanced Electron Nanoscopy Group, recognised in the Materials Science category; Peng Xiao, from the Thermal Properties of Nanomaterials Group in the Physics category; Muriel Freixanet, from the Inorganic Nanoparticles Group, in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine; and Gabriel Maroli, from the Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, together with Jaume Otaegui, from the Nanostructured Functional Materials Group and UAB, both in the Chemistry category. Borja Ortín, Anna Broto, and Yunhui Yang, from the Supramolecular Nanochemistry and Materials Group, were also recognised in the Chemistry category.

• Xu Han: “Rational Design of the Catalysts Microenvironment to Effectively Boost the Carbon Dioxide Electrochemical Reduction"
• Zhifu Liang: “Carbon-based atomically dispersed transition metal atom electrocatalysts”
• Peng Xiao: “Layered materials for thermal management and sensing applications”
• Muriel Freixanet: "Towards Translational Nanobiotechnology: Biomedical Applications Of Noble Metal Nanoparticles"
• Gabriel Maroli: “Development of PocketABLE Devices: The next generation of Point-Of-Care Biosensors”
• Jaume Otaegui: “New optical systems based on organic PCMs: from fluorochromic inks and sensors to smart windows”
• Yunhui Yang: “Clip-off Chemistry in Three-Dimensional Metal-Organic Frameworks”
• Anna Broto: “Clip-off Chemistry Applied to the Synthesis of Rh(II)-based Complexes via Rational Cleavage of Metal- Organic-Polyhedra”
• Borja Ortín: “Top-Down Approaches for the De-Reticulation and Synthesis of Metal-Organic Frameworks”

The UAB recognises outstanding doctoral researchers across a wide range of disciplines, selected from all theses defended on campus, in acknowledgement of their scientific excellence and contribution to their fields. At ICN2, we warmly congratulate all the awardees on this well-deserved reco