Awards for the best doctoral theses, TFM and TFG related to the SDGs

Writing/Raúl García Hémonnet

The first prizes in the three categories have been for Ángela García Gil, for her Doctoral Thesis 'Solar water disinfection in large-volume containers for low-income countries'; Óscar Escudero Arnanz, for his TFM 'Automatic processing and learning from multivariate time series to predict and analyze the appearance of antimicrobial multiresistance in the ICU'; and Paula Cánora Rhodes, for her TFG 'Design and construction of a portable, low-cost electromyograph'.

A way to publicize current challenges

The ceremony of this first call for awards for the best academic papers related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) began with speeches by Andrés Martínez, Vice Chancellor for Quality and Strategy, and Santiago Saura, Professor of Agroforestry Engineering at the UPM and Vice President second of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS). Both highlighted the importance of this type of initiative for several reasons: as a way to publicize the SDGs, and their goals to address the most pressing global challenges, such as poverty, climate change, inequality and environmental degradation; as recognition of the effort and excellence of the students who have dedicated their work to generating new knowledge and innovative solutions in key areas for sustainable development and, finally, as an additional incentive for future students to be interested and guide their studies from the beginning. scholarly papers to address these goals.

Both speakers reviewed, from their personal experience, how the current United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were conceived from their precursors, the Millennium Goals (MDGs), eight international development goals that the 192 members of the United Nations agreed to. reach by 2015. Andrés Martínez related his experience developing telecommunication networks to improve the health system in developing countries, with the aim of reducing infant and maternal mortality, while Santiago Saura described his experience locating the actors involved in the SDGs in the city of Madrid, from his previous position in the Delegated Area of ​​Internationalization and Cooperation of the Madrid City Council.

The challenge of conserving biodiversity

After them, María Luisa Rubio, awarded (3rd) for her Doctoral Thesis 'Ecogeographic analysis as a tool for the conservation of crop wild relatives', intervened on behalf of the award-winning students, which described the alarming loss of genetic diversity of our cultivated plants, which seriously limits their ability to adapt to climate change or pests, among other risks. Maria Luisa explained how the wild relatives of crops, protagonists of her Doctoral Thesis, can be used as a source of genetic diversity to improve our crops, highlighting the direct connections of her work with some SDGs, such as 2 (Zero Hunger) and 12 (responsible production and consumption), and indirectly with many others.

After the delivery of the diplomas, the event was closed by Luis Cayuela, Postgraduate Vice Chancellor, who congratulated all the winners and once again highlighted the importance of this call for awards to recognize, promote and strengthen the commitment of the students and the university in general with the awareness and generation of knowledge in favor of global sustainability.