Israel Sánchez / Reform Agency
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 21:37
The National Science Award, which some researchers were already beginning to consider lost after being suspended for more than two years, once again recognizes those who have made notable contributions in this field.
Specifically, the highest honor awarded by the Mexican State will this time be for the physicist Roberto Escudero Derat and the biologist Annie Pardo Cemo, as well as for the phytopathologist Gustavo Mora Aguilera and the immunologist Edda Lydia Sciutto Conde, as announced this Tuesday in the Official Journal of the Federation.
Both Escudero and Pardo Cemo received awards in the category of Physical-Mathematical and Natural Sciences; while Mora Aguilera and Sciutto Conde, in Technology, Innovation and Design. All this corresponding to the 2022 edition of the award.
“It is the highest award that one can receive as a Mexican. It had been very sad that it had not been awarded for a few years and that it seemed that it would no longer be given. I am pleased that it is awarded again, because I think it recognizes the trajectory of the best women and men in the country,” said biotechnologist Enrique Galindo Fentanes in a telephone interview.
“I think that this is important in these times where science does not seem to have much importance for the State, sadly; the fact that the awards have been announced again speaks of the fact that this was a need for the community and that the State has to carry out”, added the scientist awarded with the National Science Prize in 2015.
The award that this new batch of scientists have earned with their work consists of a gold medal, a diploma signed by the President of the Republic and a fixed amount of 100,000 pesos, in accordance with the call for the now Award Nacional de Ciencias “José Mario Molina Pasquel y Henríquez”, change of name established in the Law of Prizes, Incentives and Civil Rewards after a reform last year.
Although the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), in charge of processing the prize, has stopped guaranteeing the additional amount that was traditionally also given to the winners, and which in recent years has never been less than 823 thousand 313 pesos, the only The fact that the distinction continues seems sufficient to members of the scientific community.
“The fact that it is given again, that researchers who are doing outstanding work be recognized again, because it is extremely important,” remarked virologist Carlos Arias Ortíz, who received this same award in 2015.
“There are, without a doubt, outstanding researchers, really notable nationally and internationally, who have not yet received the award,” he continued.
Arias Ortíz and Galindo Fentanes agreed that the most important thing about the National Science Award is the visibility it gives both to the researcher who receives it and to their work group, their lines of study and even the institution to which they belong. .
“Receiving that award completely changed my life,” shared the biochemical engineer Mayra de la Torre Martínez, perhaps one of the youngest winners in the history of this distinction, having received it at just 38 years of age in 1988.
“I think it was something that was very worthwhile, to recognize a woman with the National Science Award for her work in engineering, which was something unusual,” he said. “Many interviews, radio and television programs began. (…) They took me something like a model for women; I had to represent that role a lot not only in Mexico, but in Latin America, the Caribbean and in other countries. That’s why I say it changed my life. It’s a very important award.”
The new awarded researchers will join De la Torre Martínez and other colleagues in the ranks of the Science Advisory Council (CCC), a consultative body of the Government of Mexico that, due to a lack of budget, this Administration has been reduced to a program of talks Of disclosure.
Although yesterday’s announcement does not necessarily indicate that the CCC will be restored, the biochemical engineer said she was optimistic, especially after the National Award seemed practically eliminated.
“Among us, the winners were very concerned because we thought that this had already disappeared,” he said.
And despite the fact that the SEP has not clarified the situation of the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Award, for which calls were issued but no winner was announced in an unprecedented way, among researchers in the Country there is no doubt that they would have to be awarded, relentlessly.
“If there was some way that these awards could be compensated to recognize more quality Mexican researchers, it would be excellent,” said Arias Ortíz. “It would be an even better sign if this could not only happen but could already be regularized.”
“A retroactive call could be made. I don’t see a major problem, I think that is something that can be done,” Galindo Fentanes urged.
REFORMA sought out the SEP to clarify the situation of the 2020 and 2021 awards, but, so far, no response has been received.
And sparks controversy…
Apart from the positive surprise that the continuity of the 2022 National Science Award represented for many, the fact that one of the awards is for the biologist Annie Pardo Cemo caused controversy.
And it is that despite being a respected scientist and a world reference for her research on fibrosing diseases of the lung, the researcher is the mother of the Head of Government of CDMX, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, which was taken by a part of the community of academics as a “conflict of interest”, in view of the presidential aspirations of the local President.
“Sadly, the file is stained despite having more credentials. I am not saying that it is not deserved, I am saying that there is a conflict of interest. In Mexico we still need to learn a lot about ethical conduct and conflict of interest. What pressure could the jury have had? “, published on Twitter the doctor Andreu Comas García.
For the scientists Carlos Arias Ortíz and Galindo Fentanes, who on some occasions have integrated the juries that evaluate the profiles and define the winners, this award is usually conducted with transparency and strict adherence to scientific merits. Therefore, they ruled out that the delivery to Pardo Cemo constituted nonsense.
“I believe that one thing must be separated from the other. Perhaps it is controversial precisely because of the position in which the Head of Government is and it can create certain suspicions. (…) I think that sometimes that happens, that there are certain coincidences that politically can be correct or incorrect; but you have to separate that and analyze the merits of each of the winners,” said Galindo Fentanes.
“I know Dr. Pardo, I know her work, she is an excellent researcher,” Arias Ortíz commented, suggesting that perhaps the issue is whether it was the best opportunity to distinguish her, not whether she has the necessary credentials.
“I think it is totally justifiable and appropriate (to reward her). But, certainly, for the way things are, there will be comments in all directions. There is no doubt about that,” he concluded.
The announcement caused such a stir in networks that Sheinbaum Pardo herself ended up spreading a message in defense of her mother’s career.
“Her scientific contributions are reflected in more than 180 publications that have been cited more than 25,000 times,” said the Head of Government. “She is a woman who has opened a gap to many scientists, to many women.”
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Meet who were awarded
Corresponding to the year 2022, the four winners of the National Science Award are divided into two categories.
Physical-Mathematical and Natural Sciences
*Annie Pardo
Biologist and PhD in Chemical Sciences. She is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Cellular Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the UNAM.
*Roberto Escudero Derat
Physicist and academic of the Materials Research Institute of the UNAM, member Emeritus of the National System of Researchers.
Technology, Innovation and Design
*Edda Lydia Sciutto
Immunologist born in Argentina. As a researcher, she is attached to the UNAM Biomedical Research Institute.
*Gustavo Mora
Renowned plant pathologist, researcher and lecturer, and expert in agricultural parasitology, specialized in the University of Florida.
