Geologist Meritxell Aulinas receives the 12^th Award for the best dissemination activity at the University of Barcelona

Meritxell Aulinas Juncà is a professor at the UB’s Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology. She got her PhD from this university in 2008 with a thesis on the characterization of the last four million years of volcanic activity in Gran Canaria. Her area of study is the geochemistry and petrology of volcanic terrains, especially in the Canary Islands, La Garrotxa and Deception Island, Antarctica. She is a member of the Geological, Crystalline and Sustainable Materials (GEOXiS) research group and the Geochemistry and Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary Rocks Innovation Group.

Professor Aulinas stands out for her scientific dissemination work: she publishes books, organizes exhibitions, talks and training courses, and participates in the media as an expert from the University. In 2021, with the eruption of the volcano on the island of La Palma, she became one of the voices that contributed to explaining the phenomenon in an informative way. In 2023, she was also one of the driving forces behind the Mones de Ciència project, an initiative of the UB and the Barcelona Patisserie Guild to promote scientific culture and awaken scientific vocations among children. She is also on the editorial board of the journal of the Asociación Española para la Enseñanza de las Ciencias de la Tierra (ECT-AEPECT) and is responsible for the earth sciences and environment test of the university entrance exams (PAU).

At the same event, the 11th UB Doctors‘ Senate and the Board of Trustees Award will be given to Francesc Xavier Giménez Font, professor at the Faculty of Chemistry; the Doctors‘ Award to Laura Castellet for her thesis El paisatge sonor de la Catalunya medieval (segles VI-XIV), un exercici de restitució emocional des de l’arqueologia del so, and the extraordinary doctoral awards will be given too.