EnglishThrough a resolution published on 31st May, the Compostela Group of Universities made public the decision of the Jury to award the first prize of the VII International Video Contest to the video ‘Pilgrim voices of Santiago’. The video, made by Horalia Lizette Vazquez Valdivia from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), explains that her work is “about the connection of the cultural diversity existing in one place. Where people from different nationalities are reunited to do the pilgrimage, all with one goal in common (to arrive at Santiago de Compostela), but with different learnings”.
The second prize of this competition went also to a group of students from this Mexican university for their video ‘Union is Strength’. Esmeralda Consuelo García Chavira and Angel Enrique Rodriguez Rivera are the authors of the video and the song, respectively. On her motivation letter, García Chavira reveals that she decided to use “solidarity in Higher Education as a theme, motivated by the reaction of university students and a nation, in the earthquake of September 2017 in Mexico”.
II Research Pitches Contest
This year, the first prize of the II Research Pitches contest was granted to Alberte López Regueira, a researcher from the University of Santiago de Compostela. In the pitch ‘Modelling the production of high added-value biobased products', he explains how his research “contributes to the creation of a greener and more circular society”. López Regueira’s work focuses on “modelling bacterial communities that are capable of transforming organic waste into high value-added bioproducts, such as bioplastics or biofuels. Thus, organic waste can become the raw materials of the future”.
As for the second prize, it was awarded to the researcher Ala’Salem from the University of Pécs (Hungary). In the pitch ‘Crystals: the path towards better drugs’ she discusses “why current medications in the market cause side effects and how formulation science can be used to make drugs more effective”. The objective of this research is to “combine drugs in a crystalline form, make drugs more water soluble and decrease side effects. Having more effective medications means decreased cost on the patient and community, better drug tolerability and finally safer medications”.
And the third prize went to the pitch ‘Transforming viruses to study cells’, presented by the researcher Ana María Sánchez-Pérez from University Jaume I (Spain). In her own words, the pitch “tries to open a small window to the world of biotechnology. In particular, we are talking about one of the tools used in this field: virus-derived vectors. By studying DNA and how to manipulate it, viruses can become allies in research, knowledge generation, even in the fight against disease”.
Fuente: Compostela Group of Universities: http://www2.usc.es/gcompostela/en/modules/highlights/winners-vII-video-and-II-research-pitches-contest-compostela-group-universities.html