The Rector of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, Jesús T. Pastor Ciurana, presided yesterday, March 9, over the XI Edition of the Social Council Awards in its different categories.

The Student Award has been given to students Laura Bernabeu López and Rubén Díez Esclapez. This award recognizes the students’ achievements. Academic performance, experience, professional skills, and the European dimension of their curriculum are all taken into account.

The Research Award in the “Research Groups” category has been granted to the group “Analysis, Intervention, and Therapy Applied to Children and Adolescents,” led by Professor José Pedro Espada Sánchez. In the “Young Researchers” category, the award has been given to Professor Mireia Orgilés Amorós, from the Department of Health Psychology, who will receive €2,000 to cover expenses related to her research.

The Teaching Excellence Award has been given to Professors Adrián José Torregrosa Fuentes, from the Department of Communications Engineering at UMH, and Agustín Pérez Martín, from the Department of Economic and Financial Studies at UMH. This award is presented within the framework of an agreement signed between the UMH (Miguel Hernández University of Elche) and the Regional Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sport.

The Business and Institutions award has been given to GESEM Consultoría y Finanzas, SLP. This award recognizes the established track record of this Elche-based consulting and advisory firm, as well as its ongoing collaboration with the UMH since its inception.

The Innovation in Management award, aimed at the University’s services and administrative units, has been granted to the UMH Transparency Portal, whose objective is to provide all interested parties with access to the University’s economic, statistical, budgetary, legal, and organizational information.

The Best University Athlete award has been given to Lara González Ortega, a student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences at UMH, for her outstanding national and international career in handball. Lara González is a member of the Spanish National Handball Team and has played in the French and Hungarian leagues. An Honorary Award has also been given to judoka María Bernabeu Avomo, whose coach is UMH professor Carlos Montero Carretero, “for her excellent and extensive sporting record in this field and for recently winning the silver medal at the 2015 World Judo Championships in the -70 kg category.”

Regarding the UMH Chairs, in the Business and Patronage Chairs category, the award has gone to the Vistahermosa Reproductive Biomedicine Chair, directed by José Jesús López Gálvez and Joaquín Rueda and funded by the Vistahermosa Clinic Hospital. Likewise, in the UMH Institutional Chairs category, which recognizes the achievements of individuals or organizations within each of the University’s Chairs, the awardees were: Gabriele Morelli, an Italian Hispanist specializing in Miguel Hernández, for the Miguel Hernández Chair; Francisco Moreno Sáez, a historian, for the Pedro Ibarra Chair; Francisco García Linares (posthumously) for the Misteri d’Elx Chair; Pascual Urbán Brotons for the El Palmeral d’Elx Chair; Rafael Ramos Fernández for the Dama d’Elx Chair; and the I.E.S. Sixto Marco for the UMH Institutional Chair of Footwear “San Crispín.” The jury also awarded an honorary prize to Sixto Marco Marco on the centenary of his birth.

The Social Relevance award was given to Tomás Salvador Vives Antón. Tomás Vives has served as, among other positions, vice president and magistrate of the Constitutional Court.

The Social Council of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) has awarded the Non-Profit Organization prize to the Tamarit Association of people with mild and borderline disabilities in Elche. Since 2000, the association’s mission has been to defend the rights of people with intellectual disabilities, integrating them socially and professionally into society.