The Rector of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, Juan José Ruiz Martínez, presented the awards this morning for the 8th edition of the ‘UMH University Management Innovation Week’, the ‘UMH Teaching Talent Awards’, and the ‘Academic Excellence Grants’. The ceremony was held in the Plaza del Centenario on the Elche campus.

UMH PHOTO

In addition to the Rector, those attending the awards ceremony included the Vice-Rector for Faculty, José Carlos Espigares Huete; the Vice-Rector for Students and Coordination, José Juan López Espín; the President of the Social Council, Joaquín Pérez Vázquez; and the University Manager, Emma Benlloch Marco.

In the 8th edition of the UMH University Management Innovation Week awards, each worth €2,000, the winning projects were: ‘UMH Voice Assistant’ by Sergio Briongos Caballero, from the Innovation and Technological Planning Service; ‘MEET UMH’ by Ángela María Sempere Díez, from the Communication Service; and the idea ‘QR Code to Facilitate Firefighter Response,’ proposed by Juan Pérez Crespo from the Infrastructure Service. The UMH University Management Innovation Week is coordinated by the Quality Service and promoted by the Vice-Rectorate for Knowledge Transfer and Exchange and the UMH Administration.

The ‘UMH Voice Assistant’ project proposes creating a voice assistant for Google and Amazon (Alexa) platforms containing all the information about the UMH. It will offer information on the registration process, the status of buildings, and information on all departments and services. Meanwhile, ‘MEET UMH’ is a web portal where incoming students can find new classmates in their degree program before classes begin. It will be a virtual meeting point where, in addition to meeting new people, they can access relevant information for their university life, such as languages, sports, culture, facilities, and accessibility. Finally, ‘QR Code to Facilitate Firefighters’ Actions’ is a proposal that involves placing a plaque with a QR code on the main UMH buildings. This code will lead to a website where fire service personnel can access building plans, facility maps, and all relevant information updated in real time for their operations.

Likewise, the jury of the 8th UMH University Management Innovation Week Award has given an honorable mention to the proposal “Even the Rain,” presented by the team of Victoria Arcenegui Baldó, from the Teaching and Research Technical Support Service, and Alejandro García Del Río, from Infrastructure, which aims to capture rainwater and reuse it for irrigation.

During the event, recognition was also given to the promoters of the proposals that have been implemented, stemming from previous editions of Innovation Week. The two projects are: Inclusive UMH Educational Platforms (7th Week), which involves subtitling all teaching content on UMH platforms such as YouTube and Nanocursos to make it more accessible to the hearing-impaired community; and Desktop Virtualization (3rd Week), which allows the university community to run applications from any device.

In addition, the 28 students with the best academic records from the 2020-2021 academic year received Academic Excellence Grants of €1,000 each. This award is part of the UMH Scholarship and Grant Program of the Vice-Rectorate for Students and Coordination, which recognizes UMH students pursuing undergraduate degrees or official first and/or second cycle qualifications.

The UMH also awarded 90 UMH Teaching Talent Awards, each worth €1,500. These awards were given to professors in the academic fields of Health Sciences, Experimental Sciences and Engineering, and Social Sciences, Law, and Humanities. The awards are part of the Docentia-UMH Program, which has received a positive evaluation from the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA).

Speakers at the ceremony included Antonio Torres Cantó, representing the students; Manuel Moya Ramón, representing the faculty; and David Úbeda González, representing the administrative and service staff.