Two doctoral theses from the URJC, awarded by the Madrid City Council

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

The research 'Teaching, evaluation and analysis of computational thinking skills in early stages' by María Zapata Cáceres and 'Design and implementation of metaheuristic algorithms for social network analysis' by Sergio Pérez Peló, have been selected among the best 14 proposals of the organized competition by the Madrid City Council. A total of 235 applications were submitted. Both doctoral theses have received second prizes worth 5.000 euros.

The jury has highlighted the social impact of both and the possibility that the knowledge contained in them can be transferred effectively to society, one in the field of early childhood education, another in the application of algorithms to solve complex problems. in various sectors of activity.

María Zapata points out that the award is “an incentive and recognition for the work and perseverance of both the person and the research team.” Sergio Pérez emphasizes this idea and adds that “everything one achieves will be the result of everyone's work.”

Those of the two teachers and researchers from the ETSII (Higher Technical School in Computer Engineering) are the only awards not related to technological applications in health, of those selected by the Madrid City Council.

Both have valued the initiative of the award and its endowment, although Sergio Pérez has added that “investment in science and education needs to be constant, not just one day.”

The strength of synergies

Both María Zapata and Sergio Pérez have pointed out the importance of synergies between researchers from various fields within the university, “which is where good ideas arise.” Zapata also added that these interactions between university researchers “should be encouraged and promoted more.” The researcher has also highlighted “the freedom when choosing how to research and how I want to continue”, when talking about the URJC research ecosystem.

María Zapata Cáceres' thesis has been directed by ETSII professor Estefanía Martín Barroso. The director of Sergio Pérez Peló's thesis has been the teacher Jesús Sánchez-Oro.