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Maria Leptin Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by NOVA University Lisbon

Admin EurASc Homepage, News, Prizes and Awards July 16, 2025July 16, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is proud to highlight the recent distinction awarded to Prof. Maria Leptin, Fellow of the Academy and President of the European Research Council (ERC), who received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from NOVA University Lisbon on 30 June 2025.

The solemn ceremony took place at the university’s rectorate and was presided by Prof. João Sàágua, Rector of NOVA. In his address, he praised Prof. Leptin’s “exceptional scientific career and her exemplary public service,” highlighting her pioneering work in the life sciences and her unwavering commitment to advancing fundamental research in Europe and beyond.

The laudation was delivered by Prof. Elvira Fortunato, EurASc Fellow and former ERC grantee and an internationally recognised researcher in materials science. She underlined Prof. Leptin’s leadership in defending excellence in science and promoting frontier research through ERC initiatives that have brought significant scientific and societal impact across Europe.

In her acceptance speech, Prof. Leptin acknowledged the strong research environment at NOVA and emphasised the essential role of fundamental science in addressing global challenges. She noted that 44% of ERC projects generate knowledge cited in patents, and that over 400 companies have emerged from ERC-funded discoveries, clearly illustrating how basic science can yield direct innovation and economic growth.

The same day, Prof. Leptin also visited CENIMAT|i3N, where she delivered a seminar entitled “The Importance of the ERC: Past, Present and Future” and participated in the inauguration of the renovated Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics Laboratory – Clean Room. She was welcomed by Prof. Rodrigo Martins, President of the European Academy of Sciences and Director of CENIMAT|i3N, along with Prof. José Júlio Alferes, Dean of NOVA FCT, and Prof. José Paulo Santos, NOVA FCT Vice-Dean for the Scientific Council.

This visit further reinforced the strong ties between the European Research Council, the EurASc community, and the national scientific ecosystem.

João Lima | NOVA FCT

📸 Explore the photo gallery from the visit to CENIMAT|i3N: https://i3n.org/photo-gallery-professor-maria-leptin-cenimati3n-june-30th

🔗 Source (NOVA University Lisbon official release):
https://www.unl.pt/noticias/nova/nova-atribui-titulo-honoris-causa-a-maria-leptin-e-jose-de-sousa-e-brito

EurASc Elections – Governing Bodies 2025

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, Members, News, Open Positions July 8, 2025July 9, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences (EurASc) is pleased to announce the opening of the Elections for the Governing Bodies, in accordance with its revised Statutes and Bylaws (2024).

These elections will define the leadership of the Academy for the coming years. All Active Members are encouraged to participate by submitting their candidacy and voting in accordance with the electoral timeline.

🧾 Open Positions and Duration of Mandates

President: 3 years | renewable up to 2 times (maximum 9 years)
Vice-President: 3 years | renewable up to 2 times (maximum 9 years)
Presidium Members: 4 years | renewable up to 2 times (maximum 12 years)

📝 The governing bodies operate under the rules set out in the EurASc Statutes and Bylaws.

🗂 Eligibility Criteria

Only Active Members of the Academy may submit their candidatures or be elected to the Presidium. Each candidate must comply with the limits on mandate renewals.

To be eligible, candidates must:

Hold active status within the Academy.
Not exceed the number of terms allowed by the Statutes.
Submit a complete candidature using the official form.

📅 Electoral Timeline

Call for Candidacies Opens: 9 July 2025
Deadline for Submission: 29 August 2025
Validation Period (Election Committee): 1 – 12 September 2025
Announcement of Candidates: 15 September 2025
Voting Period: 19 September – 8 October 2025
Announcement of Results: 13 October 2025
New Mandates Take Office: 1 November 2025

🧾 Submission of Candidatures

Candidates must complete the Official Candidature Form and submit it by email to the EurASc Secretariat at contact@eurasc.eu by 29 August 2025.

👥 Election Committee

The Election Committee appointed by the Executive Committee for this process includes:

Prof. Antonio Camacho
Prof. Carl K. Chang
Prof. Ernst Wagner
Prof. Quan Wang

This Committee is responsible for the validation of all candidatures in compliance with the Academy’s rules.

🔗 Need More Information?

For more information, consult our official documents:

📘 EurASc Statutes – 2024 Edition
📘 EurASc Bylaws – 2024 Edition

For further enquiries, please contact the EurASc Secretariat: contact@eurasc.eu

2025 Award Recipients

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, News, Prizes and Awards, Spotlight July 4, 2025July 4, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is thrilled to announce the recipients of the prestigious 2025 awards. Following a meticulous selection and evaluation process, the winners have been revealed.

The Leonardo da Vinci Award is conferred by the entire academy, recognizing individuals for their exceptional lifelong achievements. The selection process for this prestigious award undergoes rigorous evaluation and selection by the EurASc Presidium.

The Blaise Pascal Medal recognizes individuals for their outstanding contributions to science, technology, and research education. The selection process involves meticulous evaluation and assessment by the Division Scientific Committees, with final approval from the EurASc General Board.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the deserving recipients for their remarkable achievements. The Blaise Pascal Medals and the Leonardo da Vinci Award will be formally presented during the 2025 EurASc Annual Symposium & Ceremony, to be held at CERN in Geneva. The medal ceremony is scheduled for 18 December 2025.

2025 Leonardo da Vinci Award

Professor Yves Agid

The European Academy of Sciences has elected Prof. Yves Agid to receive the 2025 Leonardo da Vinci Award in recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the development of brain science and medicine.

As a neuropsychiatrist, he is a specialist in the management of patients with movement and cognitive disorders. As a neuroscientist, he has been a seminal pioneer in the field of the biology, chemistry, genetics, metabolism, and general understanding of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spastic paraplegia, and Charcot Mary-Tooth disease.

The foundational and monumental contribution of Yves Agid to neurology has concerned in particular the mechanisms and consequences of nerve cell death caused by neurodegenerative disorders. In the 1970s, Professor Yves Agid was the first to establish a continuum from genetics and molecular biology to therapeutics in this unexplored field.

Other seminal contributions of Professor Agid consist of the introduction of the concept of “sub-cortical dementia” and also concern the physiological role of the brain structure called basal ganglia, which is located in the center of the brain.

Professor Yves Agid has served as Professor of both Neurology and of Cellular Biology. He is the founder of the Paris Brain Institute which brings hundreds of patients, medical doctors, and researchers together for basic and clinical research.

Beyond his brilliant scientific and medical career where his discoveries are of considerable relevance to human health, Yves AGID has produced many important books to popularize brain science to the public.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry

Professor Peter Sadler

Professor Peter Sadler, from the University of Warwick (UK), is honoured with the 2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry for his pioneering contributions to the field of bioinorganic chemistry and his lifelong dedication to advancing metal-based therapeutics.

Professor Sadler began his research in the 1970’s, medicinal inorganic chemistry was a largely unrecognised field of research. He took the initiative in 1996 to found the EU COST Action D8 “Chemistry of Metals in Medicine”, which provided a major opportunity for over 100 laboratories from 23 European countries to exchange ideas and collaborate.

Following his early work on the elucidation of the structure and mechanism of action of gold antiarthritic drugs, he contributed to the clinical development of platinum anticancer drugs and pioneered the use of multinuclear NMR, especially 15N isotopic labelling, to elucidate the kinetics of Pt-DNA crosslinking. His work on gadolinium complexes led to some of the earliest patents on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agents while his research on bismuth began by elucidating the chemistry of Glaxo’s antiulcer drug Pylorid. Sadler’s group provided a new understanding of physiologically important interactions of proteins with other biometals such as Zn, Cu and Cd. He also introduced half-sandwich Ru(II) arene complexes as novel anticancer agents. The first examples of asymmetric transfer hydrogenation in intact cells, of a multimodal theranostic metal complex for hypoxic tumours activated by cell enzymes and visible light, the discovery of a new class of photoactivatable diazido platinum(IV) prodrugs, and the use of iridium(III) anticancer photocatalysts in living cells represent other achievements of Sadler’s group.

The diversity and impact of Peter Sadler’s research are most impressive. His achievements have resulted in numerous highly prestigious national and international awards and invitations worldwide to present lectures, which benefit from his remarkable talent as scientific communicator. He should also be commended for this outreach activities and public engagement.

Peter Sadler is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Computational and Information Sciences

Professor Susanne Brenner

Professor Susanne Brenner is Boyd Professor at Louisiana State University and is one of the world’s foremost experts in the numerical analysis of partial differential equations, an important branch of Computational Mathematics, to which she has made very significant and profound contributions.

Professor Brenner is a recipient of numerous honours: she was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she gave the 2011 Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture of the Association for Women in Mathematics, and she was the year 2024 Feng Kang Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She was President of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and a member of the Council of the American Mathematical Society. Professor Brenner has strong connections with European science: she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Weierstrass Institute in Berlin, and of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics at the University of Bonn.

The officers of the Computational and Information Sciences of EurASc are unanimous in their enthusiastic support of her nomination for the 2025 Blaise Pascal Medal of the European Academy of Sciences.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences

Professor Gustau Camps-Valls

Professor Camps-Valls has revolutionized how we model and understand the Earth system through hybrid AI and causal inference approaches. He was among the first to integrate advanced machine learning methods with physical models of climate and environment. Early in his career, he introduced kernel methods and modern AI techniques into remote sensing and Earth observation, which led to profoundly transform data analysis in these domains. More recently, he has led the development of “physics-aware” machine learning models – hybrid approaches that combine data-driven algorithms with fundamental physical laws, to ensure that predictions of climate changes and environmental phenomena remain robust and scientifically interpretable. Also groundbreaking is his work on causal inference in Earth sciences, where he and collaborators have developed methods to uncover cause-effect relationships from complex climate data. These contributions are not just academic exercises. In effect, they provide deeper insight into pressing questions like identifying drivers of extreme weather events and assessing the impacts of climate change. Pr. Camps-Valls’s innovative causality and hybrid modeling frameworks enable scientists to move from mere correlations to a deep understanding of Earth system dynamics, a paradigm shift in climate science.

Beyond his research innovations, Prof. Camps-Valls is renowned for his international leadership and interdisciplinary bridge-building. He proposed and developed large multi-institutional projects that unite AI experts, climate modelers, and environmental scientists. He is co-principal Investigator of the prestigious ERC Synergy project USMILE (2019–2025), a €10M initiative bringing together top European and international scientists to integrate machine learning with climate modeling. This project, involving institutions across Europe and the US, demonstrates his ability to lead diverse teams toward a common goal of advancing Earth system science. It is worth mentioning that before his ERC Synergy Grant in Physical Sciences in, 2019, Pr. Camps-Valls won in 2015 an ERC Consolidator Grant in Computer Science. Besides, as coordinator of the “Machine Learning for Earth and Climate Sciences” program of the European ELLIS network, he has built bridges between the machine learning community and geoscientists across Europe. Furthermore, he serves on high-level advisory boards (for ESA, EUMETSAT, and the European Science Foundation), guiding space agencies and research funders on leveraging AI to benefit society. In addition to EurASc, Pr Camps-Valls is a member of the Academia Europaea, of ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems), and of the Asia-Pacific AI Association. Recently, he was awarded the IEEE David Landgrebe Prize.

Gustau Camps-Valls is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Engineering

Professor Jiann-Wen Woody Ju

Prof. Ju is a pioneering researcher whose groundbreaking work has profoundly influenced the fields of computational damage mechanics and micromechanics. His seminal contributions—particularly the extension of scalar damage models to anisotropic formulations and the integration of micromechanical considerations—have established a robust, thermodynamically consistent framework that bridges microstructural and engineering scales.

These innovations have enabled accurate modeling of damage and healing processes in a wide range of materials, including concrete, rocks, advanced composites, and asphalt systems, thereby impacting both academia and industry worldwide. Prof. Ju’s scholarly record is distinguished by over 215 high-impact publications, nearly 13,000 citations, and an h-index of 55. His leadership extends beyond research; he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Damage Mechanics and actively contributes to numerous prestigious conferences and professional societies.

Recognized with several awards, including the ICDM Lifetime Achievement Medal and election to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Prof. Ju exemplifies the highest standards of scientific excellence and innovation. His pioneering work and lasting influence make him a most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Materials Science

Professor Cato Laurencin

Sir Cato Laurencin has produced pioneering technologies for musculoskeletal repair and regeneration leveraging cutting edge expertise in polymeric materials science and engineering. He is a leading international figure in science and its applications, who has made great contributions to materials science and biomedical engineering. His work spans fundamental basic science involving polymeric materials all the way to clinical trials and clinical treatment. His work has resulted in an array of products that have helped improve human health.

Dr. Laurencin is considered as the founder of the field of Regenerative Engineering, defined as the convergence of advanced materials science, stem cell science, physics, developmental biology, and clinical translation for the regeneration of complex tissues and organs.

He is one of very few elected into the US National Academies of: Science, Engineering, Medicine and Inventors. In addition, he is the first and so far only person to be awarded both the highest/oldest honor of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founders Award) and the highest/oldest honor of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Prize).

Sir Cato Laurencin is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Materials Science.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Mathematics

Professor Svitlana Mayboroda

The Blaise Pascal Medal 2025 is awarded to Svitlana Mayboroda for her contributions in the theory of elliptic partial differential equations, regularity of harmonic measures in rough domains, and the landscape approach to understand the phenomena of Anderson localization.

Svitlana Mayboroda has been working in elliptic partial differential equations, particularly with regards to the regularity of harmonic measures and Green’s functions on rough domains. Mayboroda has obtained the definitive results on the relation between the rectifiability of a domain co-dimensional one boundary and the absolute continuity of its elliptic harmonic measure. She has also developed a comprehensive, entirely new analytic theory for domains with a lower dimensional boundary (lower than the classical “space dimension minus one”), linking very fine analytic, geometric, and partial differential equations properties in this setting.

Starting around 2012, Mayboroda began a remarkable collaboration with the physicist Marcel Filoche on understanding the eigenfunctions of Anderson model operators (Schrodinger operators with a random potential). They discovered, first numerically and then with increasing levels of theoretical justification, a remarkable phenomenon that low energy eigenfunctions of such operators were localized in the wells of a specific effective potential that is now known as the landscape function. This is one of the most striking and unexpected discoveries in elliptic theory in the last decade at least. Currently, Mayboroda and her coauthors are applying the landscape theory to analyse the phenomenon of Anderson localization, obtaining both new theoretical and new numerical predictions on problems at the frontier of this subject, such as that of understanding the mobility edge between localized and delocalized states.

The idea of the landscape is very simple, and no technical power is needed to formulate it, but it is strikingly original, and it changes the game completely. It is clearly the correct way to view Anderson localisation, yet no one saw it for half a century. Moreover, It has led to important practical applications such as improvements in LED lighting, semiconductors and solar cells performance.

Svitlana Mayboroda is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Mathematics.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Medicine and Life Sciences

Professor Edith Heard

Professor Edith Heard is a symbol of international European Scientist, having excellently served science in three different European countries. Among her eminent academic positions, Edith Heard has been appointed in 2012 Professor at the Collège de France, which is one of the most recognized French academic institution, holding the Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory. In 2019, Edith Heard started as Director General of prestigious European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL, where she is the first woman to hold this position.

Edith Heard is a leading reference in modern biology. She has mostly devoted herself to the epigenetic process of X chromosome inactivation in mammals, a process essential to the development of female embryos. While females have two X chromosomes, males have only one, accompanied by a Y chromosome. However, the Y chromosome carries only about a hundred genes, while the X chromosome has more than a thousand. To compensate for this imbalance between males and females, one of the redundant two X chromosomes in females is completely inactivated by an epigenetic process. If this process fails, the embryo does not survive. Imperfect X chromosome inactivation can be linked to neurological diseases, autoimmune diseases, or even certain cancers, which illustrates the important contribution to medicine of Edith Heard’s scientific results.

Edith Heard’s outstanding contribution to Science is attested by numerous publications in the most prestigious journals in the fields of biology and medicine. She has also received many notable awards, among them the CNRS Gold Medal of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, which is the CNRS highest distinction, and the Grand Prix of French National Health Institute. Edith Heard also plays an eminent societal role in providing help to scientists from geopolitical crisis zones.

Edith Heard is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Medicine and Life Sciences.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Physics

Professor Franz Pfeiffer

Prof. Dr. Franz Pfeiffer is an eminent German physicist, universally recognized for his remarkable and groundbreaking contributions in the field of X-Ray physics and direct application to X-ray phase contrast and dark field medical imaging. His work has not only advanced scientific knowledge but also holds great potential for revolutionizing early detection and precision diagnosis of lung diseases, addressing critical challenges to human health.

His international career started at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He then moved to the Institute Laue Langevin and the European Synchrotron facility in Grenoble, France, where he got his PhD in 2003. where he got his PhD. in X-ray and Neutron Physics. Since then, he has held positions at renowned institutions such as the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. In 2009, Prof. Pfeiffer became a Full Professor for Biomedical Physics at the Technical University of Munich, where he currently serves as the Director of the Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

The potential impact of Prof. Pfeiffer’s work on healthcare and radiology is immense. Dark-field X-ray imaging has the potential to revolutionize early detection and precision diagnosis of lung diseases, which are among the top six leading causes of death worldwide. This has been recognized with prestigious awards and prizes, such as the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Science Foundation and the National Latsis Prize in Switzerland.

Moreover, Prof. Pfeiffer’s work has been recognized internationally through substantial funding from the European Research Council (ERC, with an ERC Starting Grant, followed by an ERC Advanced Grant, an more recently, an ERC Synergy Grant, to develop a revolutionary detector concept for X-ray Darkfield Imaging.

Franz Pfeiffer is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Physics.

2025 Blaise Pascal Medal in Social Sciences and Humanities

Professor Soraya de Chadarevian

Soraya de Chadarevian is a towering figure in the history of science, and one of the leading historians of the life sciences worldwide. Her scholarship spans an astounding breadth of themes and topics, which, at the same time, are always treated with an immense depth of understanding. Similarly, her interdisciplinary approach has allowed her to seamlessly integrate philosophical and contextual factors into her historical accounts.

De Chadarevian’s work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of the historical development and epistemic foundations of biology in its intertwinement with neighboring fields, and she is widely recognized for her commitment to promote a constructive dialogue between life scientists and historians of science.

Yet, de Chadarevian is not only a stellar researcher; she has also been prepared to serve her field in institutional respect, and she is committed to outreach and science communication. Thus, she has served in distinguished leadership roles in the most important international scholarly society in the field, i.e., the History of Science Society (HSS), and by serving as editor and board member for some of the most prestigious journals of the field. Académie Européenne des Sciences

Soraya de Chadarevian is an outstanding and most deserving recipient of the Blaise Pascal Medal in Social Sciences and Humanities.

Gary J. Schrobilgen Awarded 2025 ACS M. Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, Members, News, Prizes and Awards June 24, 2025June 24, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is proud to share that Prof. Gary J. Schrobilgen, Fellow of the Academy and Professor at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), has received the prestigious 2025 M. Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The award was presented during the Spring ACS National Meeting, held on 25 March 2025 in San Diego, California. Prof. Schrobilgen was honoured for his outstanding contributions to the field, specifically:

Advances in the syntheses of Group 13-18 compounds that encompass strong oxidizers; hypervalent, high-oxidation-state species; and ring, cage, and cluster polyatomic anions.”

The award was formally presented by Dr. Dorothy J. Phillips, President of the ACS, and Prof. Silvia S. Jurisson, ACS Board of Directors.

In further recognition of his achievements, a two-day joint symposium, co-organised by the ACS Divisions of Fluorine Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, along with a celebratory banquet, will be held during the Fall ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C., on 18–19 August 2025.

📸 Photo Caption:
Prof. Gary J. Schrobilgen (centre) receiving the 2025 ACS M. Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry from Dr. Dorothy J. Phillips, ACS President (left), and Prof. Silvia S. Jurisson, ACS Board of Directors (right).
Photo Credit: EPNAC.com

Claudia Felser Wins 2025 L’Oréal-UNESCO International Award for Women in Science

Admin EurASc Homepage, Members, News June 2, 2025June 2, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences proudly celebrates Prof. Claudia Felser, Fellow of the Materials Science Division and former member of its Scientific Committee, on being named the European laureate of the 2025 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards.

Announced on 16 May 2025, this prestigious award honours five exceptional researchers, each representing a major world region, for their groundbreaking contributions to science and their commitment to fostering inclusivity within the scientific community.

Pioneering Contributions to Quantum Materials

Prof. Felser, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany, is recognised for her innovative work at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and materials science. Her research has led to the discovery and development of new magnetic materials with significant potential for future green energy technologies. Notably, her visionary approach has established the field of “topological quantum chemistry,” bridging fundamental science with practical applications in data storage and sustainable energy. UNESCO+1Vanguard News+1

In an interview featured in the official press kit, Prof. Felser reflects on her scientific journey:

“I was always fascinated by how the properties of materials can be tailored by their composition and structure. This curiosity drove me to explore the quantum mechanical aspects of materials, leading to the discovery of novel phases with unique electronic properties.”

She also emphasises the importance of mentorship and diversity in science:

“Mentoring young scientists, especially women, has been a rewarding part of my career. Diversity brings different perspectives, which are crucial for innovation and progress in research.”UNESCO

Honoured by EurASc with the Blaise Pascal Medal

Prof. Claudia Felser was awarded the Blaise Pascal Medal in Materials Science by the European Academy of Sciences in 2022, in recognition of her pioneering contributions to the design and realisation of novel quantum materials, with significant impact on quantum and energy conversion technologies.

Her work has driven fundamental breakthroughs in condensed matter and materials science, through a comprehensive research programme that spans from theoretical prediction of topological phenomena, to the synthesis of new materials, and their experimental validation. This integrated approach has placed her at the forefront of innovation in the field.

🔗 Access the official press kit and full announcement:

UNESCO Press Kit – Women in Science International Awards 2025

UNESCO Official Announcement

📸 This article includes text and image content based on the official press kit provided by UNESCO and the L’Oréal Foundation, 2025.

Luisa Torsi Conferred Honorary Doctorate by Åbo Akademi University

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, Members, News, Prizes and Awards May 26, 2025May 26, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is proud to announce that Prof. Luisa Torsi, Fellow of the Materials Science Division, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Åbo Akademi University, Finland. The distinction was conferred during the university’s prestigious Doctoral Conferral Ceremony held on 23 May 2025, in recognition of her pioneering contributions to biosensor technology and her lasting engagement with the Finnish scientific community.

Prof. Torsi, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bari (Italy), was a Visiting Professor at Åbo Akademi University from 2017 to 2022, where she significantly advanced biosensor research. She is internationally recognised for her innovative work on organic electrolyte-gated transistors as biosensors, which has opened new avenues in biomedical diagnostics.

Her scientific achievements include:

Over 280 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals such as Science and Nature Materials
More than 18,200 citations and an h-index of 67
14 patents and dozens of invited lectures worldwide
Leadership roles as Vice Chair of the Scientific Committee of the National Research Council of Italy and member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

Beyond the lab, Prof. Torsi has also been featured as a comic book character in Topolino (the Italian version of Disney’s Donald Duck) to inspire young girls to pursue careers in science.

Her election as Honorary Doctor celebrates not only her scientific excellence but also her commitment to mentoring and science communication.

This year, Åbo Akademi conferred 14 Honorary Doctorates across all faculties and celebrated eight Jubilee Doctors who earned their doctorates 50 years ago. The event is the university’s most prestigious academic celebration, honouring both scholarly merit and societal impact.

Prof. Luisa Torsi during the Doctoral Conferral Ceremony at Åbo Akademi University, wearing the traditional doctoral hat and holding the ceremonial sword.
The doctoral hat, adorned with a lyre emblem, symbolises academic freedom and the dignity of scholarship. The doctoral sword, represents the defence of truth, knowledge, and academic integrity. Both are formal insignia of the honorary degree awarded by the university.

📸 Photo courtesy of Prof. Luisa Torsi, via her official Twitter account.

📍 More details: Åbo Akademi University Official Announcement

EurASc Members Honoured as 2024 Honorary Fellows of the Chinese Chemical Society

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, Members, News, Prizes and Awards May 22, 2025May 22, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is pleased to share the news that two of its distinguished Fellows, Prof. Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus and Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler, have been elected Honorary Fellows of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS) — the highest distinction awarded by the CCS to eminent international chemists.

The announcement was made in April 2024 following a formal election by the CCS Standing Board, composed of over 40 members. Prof. Kohse-Höinghaus and Prof. Sessler are among the eleven scientists selected globally as part of the 2024 class of Honorary Fellows. The CCS currently counts only 103 Honorary Fellows worldwide, a testament to the selectivity and prestige of the honour.

Founded in 1932 in Nanjing, the Chinese Chemical Society today represents more than 120,000 individual members and over 180 institutional members, playing a major role in advancing chemical sciences both nationally and internationally.

🔗 Chinese Chemical Society website
📄 Full Honorary Fellows list (2009–2024)

Prof. Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus

Prof. Kohse-Höinghaus is internationally recognised for her pioneering work in combustion diagnostics, using advanced techniques such as laser-induced fluorescence, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, and emission spectroscopy. Her research on biofuel combustion mechanisms and pollutant formation has significantly contributed to the development of low-temperature, cleaner combustion processes.

She is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of the German Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Engineering. She has maintained long-standing collaborations with Chinese institutions, trained generations of Chinese researchers, and contributed to shaping China’s innovation policy landscape. In 2024, Prof. Kohse-Höinghaus is also the only woman among the CCS Honorary Fellows, further highlighting her exceptional achievements and leadership.

Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler

Prof. Sessler is celebrated for his innovative work in functional molecular design, particularly in the fields of calixphyrins and molecular recognition with applications in cancer therapy, drug delivery, and environmental sensing. His synthetic methodologies for porphyrins and related compounds have had widespread impact in biomedical and supramolecular chemistry.

Prof. Sessler is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). His active engagement with the Chinese scientific community has been instrumental in strengthening China–US cooperation through academic platforms, joint research initiatives, and researcher training programs.

This distinction follows a growing recognition of EurASc members by the CCS: in 2021, Prof. Bao-Lian Su, was also elected CCS Honorary Fellow for his pioneering contributions to inorganic material chemistry and his role in fostering scientific collaboration between China and Europe.

EurASc congratulates Prof. Kohse-Höinghaus and Prof. Sessler on this prestigious distinction and celebrates the continued international impact of its Fellows in advancing chemical sciences worldwide.

📸 News and citations courtesy of the Chinese Chemical Society and institutional sources.
🔗 Full 2024 Honorary Fellows Announcement

Gerhard Alfred Holzapfel Receives Laurea Magistrale ad Honorem in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Parma

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, Members, News, Prizes and Awards May 20, 2025May 20, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is proud to announce that Prof. Gerhard Alfred Holzapfel, Fellow of the Engineering Division, has been awarded a Laurea Magistrale ad Honorem in Mechanical Engineering by the University of Parma, in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements and global impact in the field of biomechanics.

The degree was conferred on 20 May 2025 in Parma, Italy, as a tribute to what the university described as “the research and career of one of the greatest contemporary scholars in biomechanics.” Prof. Holzapfel is currently Professor of Biomechanics and Director of the Institute of Biomechanics at Graz University of Technology, and Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

A prolific and influential researcher, Prof. Holzapfel is the author of 9 monographs, over 30 textbook chapters, and more than 370 scientific publications, which have collectively garnered over 26,000 citations. He is especially renowned for his contributions to the development of the GOH model—a constitutive model for the mechanical behaviour of human arteries, developed with collaborators Gasser and Ogden. This model has become a cornerstone in arterial biomechanics, with transformative applications in diagnostics, pathology research, and the design of next-generation vascular prosthetics.

In their formal remarks, Prof. Rinaldo Garziera, Director of the Department of Systems Engineering and Industrial Technologies, and Prof. Luca Collini, President of the Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, praised Prof. Holzapfel’s scientific depth, academic leadership, and the societal impact of his research. Particular attention was given to the implications of his work in patient-specific modelling and the integration of vascular dynamics with cardiocirculatory systems.

The university’s Rector, Prof. Paolo Martelli, stated:

“Prof. Holzapfel is one of the most authoritative and influential minds in his field. Scientific research, as embodied by his work, is a value not only for academia but for society. This recognition is our tribute to a career of extraordinary contributions.”

In his lectio magistralis, titled “The Power of Interdisciplinary Research: Biomechanics as an Example”, Prof. Holzapfel reflected on the evolution of biomechanics—from Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical studies to today’s mechanobiological challenges—highlighting the importance of cross-disciplinary integration:

“Today, biomechanics is the development, extension and application of mechanics to answer weighty questions in biology and medicine. The future lies in interdisciplinary research.”

Before the ceremony, Prof. Holzapfel signed the Book of Honour of the University of Parma, leaving a message of gratitude and humility for this academic distinction.

EurASc warmly congratulates Prof. Holzapfel on this prestigious recognition, which celebrates not only his scientific excellence but also his lifelong commitment to improving human health through engineering and applied research.

📸 News and photos courtesy of the Università degli Studi di Parma.
🔗 Official Announcement

EurASc and Brazilian Academy of Sciences Strengthen Ties Through Establishment of Cooperation Agreement

Admin EurASc Eurasc, Homepage, News, Other, Spotlight May 16, 2025May 16, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences (EurASc) is pleased to announce the signing of a Cooperation Agreement with the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), marking a significant step toward fostering international collaboration in science and technology.

The agreement was officially signed by Prof. Rodrigo Martins, President of EurASc, in Lisbon on 1 May 2025, and by Prof. Helena Bonciani Nader, President of ABC, during a ceremony held on 6 May 2025 at the Museu do Amanhã, within the framework of the Reunião Magna of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in Rio de Janeiro.

This agreement aims to promote cooperation between the two Academies in multiple scientific fields, including Chemistry, Engineering, Materials Science, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Medicine and Life Sciences, among others. Joint activities will encompass scientific workshops, conferences, publications, and the dissemination of research findings, based on principles of equality, reciprocity, and mutual benefit.

During the same event, Prof. Armando Pombeiro, EurASc Agreement Coordinator, represented the Academy and participated in the signing ceremony alongside Prof. Helena Nader.

In addition to this important milestone, EurASc is proud to share that Prof. Armando Pombeiro was formally welcomed as a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) during a special welcoming ceremony held on 8 May 2025 at the Escola Naval, Rio de Janeiro.

At the ceremony, Prof. Pombeiro received his diploma directly from Prof. Helena Nader. Also present at the official table were distinguished figures including Prof. Ricardo Galvão, President of the CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), and Prof. Luís Rebelo Fernandes, Interim Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil.

These events reflect EurASc’s growing international engagement and its commitment to fostering scientific collaboration beyond European borders.

Mioara Mandea Honoured with the 2024 Dolomieu Prize and Elected AGU Fellow

Admin EurASc Homepage, Members, News, Prizes and Awards May 7, 2025May 7, 2025

The European Academy of Sciences is proud to congratulate Prof. Mioara Mandea, member of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, on receiving two prestigious recognitions for her outstanding scientific contributions.

🏅 2024 Dolomieu Prize – BRGM

Prof. Mandea was awarded the Dolomieu Prize 2024, granted by BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières) under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences. This annual prize honours geoscientists whose work has significantly advanced the understanding of geological and environmental processes. Prof. Mandea was recognised for her internationally acclaimed career in geophysics, particularly her innovative research on the Earth’s magnetic field.

More information available on the BRGM website.

🌍 Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)

In parallel, Prof. Mandea has been elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) – one of the highest honours bestowed by the global geoscience community. This distinction recognises scientists who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences and who have demonstrated visionary leadership and impact. She joins a distinguished circle of international experts who are shaping the future of geophysical research.