The Department of Education and Ikerbasque recognize and make visible the work of women researchers

The Evaluation Committee in charge of deliberating on the recognition of women researchers has unanimously agreed which researchers will receive this recognition in 2023, at each of the three levels at which they are awarded. This morning, the councilor Jokin Bildarratz informed the three scientists of the recognition granted by the Department of Education and Ikerbasque.

These are the following researchers:

• Advanced, recognition of an entire research career: Alicia Alonso, professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UPV/EHU.
• Consolidator, recognition of a leading researcher in her field of research: Ainhoa Magrach, Ikerbasque Research Professor at BC3, Basque Centre for Climate Change.
• Starting, recognition of an outstanding contribution by a young researcher: Sara Barja, Ikerbasque Research Associate at the UPV/EHU and Material Physics Center.

This recognition, which is awarded annually by the Department of Education of the Basque Government and Ikerbasque, does not represent so much an award, but rather it is about making women researchers in the Basque Country and their work visible, so that they serve as an example and inspiration for new generations of researchers. To do this, women researchers who are in three different stages of their scientific career are highlighted: advanced, consolidated and promising.

In this fourth edition of the recognitions, Ikerbasque has carried out a bibliometric analysis of the data on scientific production and the latest contributions by female researchers from the Basque Country. The Evaluation Committee has focused its debate on a final selection of 22 researchers at the three levels mentioned above. They have highlighted the high scientific level of the researchers in the three categories, and the considerable increase in the number of candidates in relation to other years, which reflects, in the words of the Evaluation Committee, the great potential of science carried out in the Basque Country by women researchers.

The Evaluation Committee also points out its interest in seeking a balance in the different editions between the profiles of the recognized researchers, both at the stage of their research career and their area of ​​knowledge and the scientific subsystem in which they carry out their activity. This Evaluation Committee is made up of three researchers of recognized prestige from the Ikerbasque Board of Trustees, in addition to the Basque Government's director of research, the Scientific Director of Ikerbasque and the Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Annual recognitions

The initiative is part of the Ikerbasque Strategic Plan, which establishes that one of its 12 challenges is to progress in gender equality in the incorporation of people in the Ikerbasque research community. In this sense, the Equality Plan prepared by the Basque Foundation for Science includes this action aimed at granting, annually, recognitions to women researchers.

The Department of Education and Ikerbasque will hold a recognition event in the autumn of 2023, which will be attended by the recognized researchers, as well as representatives of research centers, universities and technology centers in the Basque Country.