The UPC and professor Núria Castell win awards at the 26th Nit de les Telecomunicacions i la Informàtica

18/6/2021

For its 50^th anniversary, the UPC received the Institutional Honour Award at the 26^th Nit de les Telecomunicacions i la Informàtica (Telecommunications and Computer Science Night) and Núria Castell, professor in the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB), won the Salvà i Campillo Outstanding Individual Award.

The 26th Nit de les Telecomunicacions i la Informàtica, held on 16 June in the Auditori de Barcelona, was the event at which the Salvà i Campillo Award, Alan Turing Award, Joan Clarke Award, Honour Award and the Award for Communication and Dissemination in ICT were given jointly by the Catalan Association of Telecommunications Engineers (Telecos.cat) and the Official Association of Computer Engineering of Catalonia (COEINF). The Institutional Honour Award for the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) was received by the rector, Daniel Crespo. In its half a century of existence, the UPC —the university of architecture, sciences, engineering and technology — has become one of the leading public higher education institutions in Catalonia and in the world, and an important driver of technology in the industrial sector. This year, it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, with a programme of events and activities.

The  Salvà i Campillo Outstanding Individual Award —  recognising the person or entities that has contributed most notably to boosting or disseminating electronics, ICTs or the audiovisual sector — was given to Núria Castell, from the UPC Department of Computer Science and teacher in the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB). Castell was one of the first women to graduate in Computer Sciences in Catalonia and Spain. In March 1986 she was appointed coordinator of the first degree course and was the first woman in a management position at the FIB, which she directed from 2010 to 2017. Castells has designed and directed research, teaching and gender projects, which have led to many publications.

Among other representatives of authorities, participants in the ceremony included the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Laura Borràs; the Catalan government’s vice-president and minister for Digital Policy and Territory, Jordi Puigneró; the junior minister for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, Roberto Sánchez; deputy of the Agenda 2030 of Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet; and the delegated president of the Innovation Area of Barcelona Provincial Council, Josep Arimany.