Three former ICIQers have been awarded the Special URV Doctoral Prize 2019-20

ICIQ alumni Alexandra Bosnidou, Luis Escobar and Eric Tan have been awarded for their outstanding thesis by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

25 PhD students who defended their thesis during the 2019-20 academic year have won the Extraordinary Thesis Award in different fields of sciences and humanities. From the 34 theses defended in the Chemical Science and Technology programme, four were awarded the Special Doctoral Prize – three of which went to ICIQ alumni.

From left to right: Eric Tan, Alexandra Bosnidou and Luis Escobar

Alexandra Bosnidou did her thesis entitled “New Methodology for C-N Bond Formation within Iodine Redox Manifolds” in the Muñiz group. This award it’s a recognition of all the hard work on cutting-edge projects that I have done, during my ICIQ years with Prof. Dr. Kilian Muñiz. I would like to thank him for his innovative ideas and guidance during those four years, also for his words of encouragement and advice that kept me sane while chasing deadlines.”

Luis Escobar, former student in the Ballester group, developed the thesis “Molecular Recognition in Organic Solvents and Water Using Receptors Based on Calix[4]pyrrole Scaffolds”. “The excellent doctoral award is a grand recognition of my growth as a scientist at ICIQ and gives me additional self-confidence for the years to come,” declares Luis.

Last but not least, Eric Tan carried out the thesis “Late Transition Metal Catalyzed Chelation-Assisted C-H Alkynylation Reactions,” supervised by Prof. Echavarren. “I am very happy for winning this award,” says Eric. “Hard work plays an important role, but a major component of my success was due to the special environment at ICIQ and in Antonio’s group.”