On the afternoon of 15 May 2013, the Casa de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla hosted the public award ceremony for the 2012 Young Researcher Awards. These awards recognise the accredited scientific merits of young people who have carried out a relevant part of their work in research centres in the province of Seville.

The Royal Sevillian Academy of Science Award went to Ana Isabel Borrás, a senior scientist at the Materials Science Institute of Seville, one of the three institutes that make up the Isla de la Cartuja Scientific Research Centre (cicCartuja). The jury recognised her work in the study of functional nanostructured surfaces, including the development of functional nanostructured coatings and the synthesis of supported organic and inorganic nanostructures. The jury’s decision was decisively influenced by the double aspect of his research work, on the one hand fundamental (methodologies for the synthesis of new materials and the study of the growth of supported nanostructures) and on the other hand applied (multifunctional materials with controlled optical, transport, sensing and wetting properties). This second aspect leaves the possibility of transferring knowledge to the industrial or business sphere.

During the same public ceremony, the two Research Prizes of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla were also awarded to Isabel Fernández Delgado, for her work in the area of Geometric Analysis, and to Jorge Rencoret Pazo, for his research on lignocellulosic materials focused on sustainable industrial use. The three prizes are endowed with 6,000 euros each.