- Prof Carmen Galán achieves recognition for her entire research career with the “Merit Award” granted by the Society of Spanish Scientists in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU).
- The Merit Award was delivered during the IX SRUK/CERU International Symposium, event during which Prof Carmen Galán closed by sharing a motivational talk with the attendees.
- This award recognises the career of a renown Spanish researcher in the UK whose professional trajectory has had a great impact on society.
London, 11th July 2022. The Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) is pleased to announce that Prof Carmen Galán, Professor Organic and Biological Chemistry at the University of Bristol, is the winner of the SRUK/CERU Merit Award 2022 for her prolific and outstanding scientific career both in Spain and in the UK. This award aims to recognise the career of an internationally renowned senior Spanish researcher based in the UK who has been instrumental to the advance of science, research, and innovation. Candidates for this award are nominated every two years by members of SRUK/CERU, its Executive Committee, and partner institutions.
Prof Galán is interested in synthetic organic chemistry and develops synthetic tools for biological and biomedical applications. She studied chemistry in Universidad de Alicante and did her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Centre at The University of Georgia, USA. Following two postdoctoral stints at the Scripps Research Institute and MIT, she returned to the UK in October 2006. In 2008, she became a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin fellow and, from 2012 to 2017, she held an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship, followed by an ERC consolidator award. Since August 2017, she holds the position of Professor in the School of Chemistry and Study Abroad Academic Director.
The awardee has also contributed to SRUK/CERU activities, initiatives, and founding objectives. Prof Galán has been a member of the evaluation committee of our SRUK/CERU Emerging Talent Award in two of its editions and she is always approachable and happy to help. She has a very international group, with Spanish researchers both as team members and visitors. She has obtained several international awards which highlight the excellence of her work, such as the RSC Dextra Carbohydrate Chemistry award in recognition of her research into new synthetic methodologies for oligosaccharide synthesis or the RSC Jeremy Knowles award for the development of bioinspired synthetic probes. She has also been the Editor-in-Chief of Carbohydrate Research since 2019. The president of SRUK/CERU, Dr Claudia Román, highlights that “this is the first time that we opened the nomination process of the Merit Award to all our SRUK/CERU members. Participation was very high, and we received outstanding candidates that made the shortlisting extremely difficult. Nevertheless, considering her impressive international career and her continuous contribution to CERU, Prof Carmen Galan was unequivocally granted the SRUK/CERU Merit Award 2022”.
The SRUK/CERU Merit Award was announced during the IX International Symposium SRUK/CERU, event in which Prof Galán shared her joy for receiving the award and the latest results of her pioneering research on new synthetic methodologies for oligosaccharide synthesis and the development of novel glycoconjugate probes. In the words of the awardee, “I am very honoured and humbled to receive this fantastic award. What makes it particularly special is being recognised by a Spanish society created to support researchers like me who left Spain to develop our careers abroad. It has been quite a journey and I am very proud of being part of this society and for being offered a platform to the international Spanish community”.
With this recognition, Prof Galán has also been awarded an honorary membership of the Society and she will become a distinguished adviser for SRUK/CERU.
