The Social Council of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche has presented the awards for the “9th edition of the Social Council Awards.” The awards recognized achievements in the categories of Businesses and Institutions, Research, Students, Teaching Excellence, Innovation in Management, Non-profit Organization, Best University Athlete, Social Relevance, and UMH Chairs.

Winners of the 9th Social Council Awards

In this edition, the UMH Social Council awarded an Honorary Prize to Elche C.F. for its close collaboration with the UMH Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, which this year also coincides with the year of their promotion to the first division. The Council also awarded the Spanish Red Cross Provincial Branch of Alicante the Non-Profit Organization prize; Rafael Bernabéu Moya, Honorary President of the J’hayber Group, the Social Relevance prize; and the Huerto del Cura Group the Business and Institutions prize.

Within the Research Groups category, the Research prize went to the Bioactive Molecules Group, directed by Gregorio Joaquín Fernández Ballester. In the Young Researchers category, the award was given to Professor José Luis Carballo Crespo, from the Department of Health Psychology.

The Teaching Excellence Award was given to Professors José Antonio Pérez Juan, from the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences in Elche, and Esther Caparrós Cayuela, from the Faculty of Medicine. In the Student category, the award went to students María Cristina Pastor Valcárcel, Cristina Santamaría Meliá, and Javier Ferrer Aracil.

This year, the Innovation in Management Award was given to two UMH departments: the Innovation and Technical Support for Teaching and Research Service, for its “Innovation and Improvement in Teaching through ICTs,” directed by Tomás Sempere Gallar; and the Communication, Marketing, and Press Office, for its “Science Outreach” initiatives, directed by José Juan López Espín.

The Best University Athlete award has been given to the UMH Badminton team, university champions in all categories, including singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

Regarding the UMH Chairs, in the Corporate and Patronage Chairs category, the award has gone to the “Professor Remedios Caro Almela” Chair of Developmental Neurobiology, directed by Juan Lerma Gómez and funded by the Martínez Caro family. Also, in the UMH Institutional Chairs category, the winners were the Hernandian researcher Juan Cano Ballesta for the Miguel Hernández Chair, the Elche collector José Antonio Carrasco Pacheco for the Pedro Ibarra Chair, the historian Joan Castaño García for the Misteri d’Elx Chair and the commercial director of the company Provefe, Alfredo Ahumada Pérez, for the El Palmeral d’Elx Chair.