The team, formed by nine Catalan women scientists from different disciplines, were selected to carry out a mission at the Mars Research Desert Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert, in the United States.
The jury of the City of Barcelona Awards 2023, in the category of Experimental Sciences and Technology, has agreed to award a special mention to the Hypatia I team, a team formed by nine Catalan women scientists from different disciplines who were selected to carry out a mission at the Mars Research Desert Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert, in the United States.
For 15 days, the members of the mission, among them the researcher of the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) Laia Ribas, had to live with all kinds of limitations to test equipment and experiments to study the feasibility of a real mission on the red planet.
"The award is very gratifying because it is a recognition of all the effort that we have been tracing during the three years that our project began. We are very happy with all that Hypatia I has achieved," says Ribas, who stresses that "the road that women must make to represent an equal percentage in STEAM careers, and especially in leadership positions, is still very long." However, the expert is confident that projects such as this one or Hypatia II, which, she warns, "comes loaded with new scientific and informative projects", will help to achieve this goal.
Specifically, Ribas, with extensive experience in the field of aquaculture, was dedicated to studying how this discipline could provide animal protein to a future human settlement on the red planet. In addition, this research could help to generate more sustainable farming practices on Earth, where from 2050 the amount of fish available will be insufficient to supply the demand of the world's population".
All in all, the experience of Ribas and her colleagues at the Martian station was intended to serve to advance in highly innovative areas of research and to make visible leading women scientists in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) disciplines to inspire vocations, especially among girls and young women.
The Ciutat de Barcelona Awards, granted by the Barcelona City Council since 1949, are aimed at recognizing artistic and cultural creation linked to the city of Barcelona. Soon erected in a faithful reflection of the cultural and creative life of Barcelona since the democratic recovery of 1979, these awards were no longer awarded by competition to become a tool for citizen recognition of projects that had been excellent.
The categories included in these awards have been changing in line with the cultural evolution of the city. Born as literary awards, they have subsequently incorporated other artistic disciplines (such as visual, performing and musical arts), as well as scientific research and educational projects. The public reading of the jury's verdicts and the corresponding presentation of the awards took place at an institutional ceremony in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Hall on February 13.