Ana Isabel Borrás Martos, a researcher at the Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS), is the winner of the 2012 Royal Academy of Sciences of Seville Prize, which recognises the scientific merits of young researchers with degrees from the University of Seville or who carry out their work in research centres in the province of Seville. The jury for this award, headed by José Luis de Justo Alpañés, President of the Royal Sevillian Academy of Sciences, wished to distinguish the work carried out by Ana Isabel Borrás in the study of functional nanostructured surfaces, as well as her contribution to the discovery of functional nanostructured coatings and the synthesis of supported organic and inorganic nanostructures.Ana Isabel Borrás, who works in the Nanostructured Functional Materials unit at the ICMS, has focused her research in recent years on the growth of semiconducting thin films of oxides, metal-oxide composites and 1D and 2D organic nanocomposites with photonic functionality using vacuum deposition techniques. These studies have been carried out both from the fundamental perspective – through new materials synthesis methodologies – and from the applied point of view. In fact, this research has led to the discovery of new multifunctional materials with controlled optical, transport, sensing and wetting properties. The possibility of applying this research in the industrial or business field has been decisive for Ana Isabel Borrás to win this prize, with which the Royal Sevillian Academy of Sciences aims to promote the ‘study, progress and propagation of the sciences’, and especially those results that may be of interest or benefit to Seville and its province.
In addition, the Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias, with the sponsorship of the Fundación Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, has also awarded the annual Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla prizes, which, in this edition, have gone to doctors Isabel Fernández Delgado, for her work in the area of Geometric Analysis; and Jorge Rencoret Pazo, for his research into lignocellulosic materials from different crops and agroforestry waste focused on sustainable industrial use.
These awards, worth 6,000 euros and accrediting diplomas, will be presented at a public ceremony to be held at the headquarters of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, the date of which is yet to be determined.
More information at:

http://huespedes.cica.es/aliens/rasc/Premios_2012_2013.htm