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“This third prize is a demonstration of collective scientific effort and incredible support from my professional and personal environment”
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The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) is proud to announce that Mar Carretero-Castrillo has been awarded the third prize at the La Vanguardia Science Awards. This recognition comes in light of her discovery of numerous massive runaway stars in the Milky Way, a significant contribution to the field of astrophysics. 

The award ceremony will take place on November 27th at 7 PM at the headquarters of the Fundació Catalunya - La Pedrera in Barcelona. 

Mar Carretero-Castrillo, a predoctoral student at the Quantum Physics and Astrophysics Department of University of Barcelona (UB) and researcher at the ICCUB and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), has been recognized for her pioneering research, which sheds new light on the dynamics and evolution of massive stars. Her work, conducted in collaboration with Drs. Marc Ribó and Josep M. Paredes, developed a new methodology and used data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission to identify a population of massive runaway stars ejected from their birthplaces due to gravitational forces.

Reflecting on her achievement, Mar Carretero-Castrillo said, “This third prize is a demonstration of collective scientific effort and incredible support from my professional and personal environment.” 

The first prize of the La Vanguardia Science Awards was awarded to Marta Alonso and Iker Ausejo from Clínica Universidad de Navarra for their innovative research in medical science. The second prize went to Ana Paredes and Mercedes Ricote from the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) for their outstanding contributions to cardiovascular research. 

The La Vanguardia Science Awards, organized by La Vanguardia and the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, aim to honour exceptional scientific contributions and promote the visibility of women in science, while celebrating research that drives innovation and enhances global understanding.

For more information about Mar Carretero-Castrillo’s research and the La Vanguardia Science Awards, please visit ICCUB’s website or the original article “Galactic runaway O and Be stars found using Gaia DR3” .