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 Entry open for twelfth edition of the Sener Foundation Best Doctoral Thesis Award

08/01/2024

Madrid (Spain)- The Sener Foundation has sent out the call for entrants to the twelfth edition of the Sener Foundation Best Doctoral Thesis Award for works presented in 2023.

Entry is open to anyone who has obtained a doctorate from a university this calendar year 2023, in any of the following Sener Group scientific and technological areas: Aerospace, Infrastructure, Energy or Marine. These awards seek to stimulate research at the very highest level, and the areas mentioned are the main technological and scientific areas in which Sener is active.

Applicants will present their thesis and additional documentation in digital format by sending it by e-mail to [email protected]. If the files submitted exceed 10 MB, the application mail can be supplemented by an additional submission through platforms such as Dropbox, OneDrive or similar (please specify this additional submission in the application e-mail).

The deadline for submission of applications is from December 04, 2023, to January 31, 2024.

As in previous editions, the Sener Foundation shall bestow a single award with prize money of €12,000 for the author of the winning thesis and another €3,000 for the supervisor(s) of the study (if there is more than one supervisor, this prize money is shared). In the event that the jury so considers, the work of another candidate may be recognized with a second prize; these second prizes will not be financially endowed. The panel of judges’ decision is expected to be published during the first six months of 2023 and the prize is expected to be presented in that year.

The panel of judges will comprise supervisors and authors of winning theses from previous editions, doctors from Sener’s technical corps with experience in research work, doctorate-holding trustees of the Sener Foundation, and doctors collaborating from the Sener Foundation who are experts in the subjects covered in the candidate theses.

Assessment criteria will include the research’s relevance and potential for application in the aforementioned scientific and technological areas, the quality of the thesis, and its impact in scientific dissemination channels (journals, patents, etc.), prizes or other accolades, and clarity of presentation.

The Sener Foundation presents the Sener Foundation ST3LLAR Awards at the UC3M-Sener Aerospace Chair

12/12/2023

Madrid, December 2023 –  The Sener Foundation presented the 2023 Sener Foundation ST3LLAR Awards within the subject and scope of the UC3M – Sener Aerospace Chair. These awards recognize the research, scientific and technical excellence and quality of the theses of students at the Carlos III University in Madrid (UC3M).

On this occasion, the awards recognized the best senior’s and master’s degree theses in the field of the UC3M – Sener Aerospace Chair, as well as the group work done in the predesign course of the Master’s in Space Engineering (MISE).

The presentation ceremony was held in the conference hall of the UC3M Leganés campus and was attended by Sener’s responsible of the UC3M – Sener Aerospace Chair and Head of the Systems, Navigation and Control Area at Sener Aeroespacial, Mercedes Ruiz, the Director of the Sener Foundation, Rosana Madroñal, the Director of the UC3M – Sener Aerospace Chair, Dr. Andrés Marcos, and the professor of Computer Science and Engineering Javier Fernández Muñoz.

During his speech, Andrés Marcos wanted to highlight the importance of collaboration between the company and the university by explaining the origin of the ST3LLAR Sener Foundation Awards and the UC3M – Sener Aeroespacial chair. An idea that Mercedes Ruiz also highlighted in her speech in which she spoke of “strengthening ties between the university and the company to foster interest in research in students before beginning their working life.” For her part, Rosana Madroñal congratulated the candidates for the awards “since the simple fact of completing the studies and doing so with excellence is already an award in itself,” while highlighting the work of the Sener Foundation. in supporting research in universities.

On this occasion, the prizes went to:

  • 1st prize for a thesis: Alberto Jesús Nogueras, for his master’s thesis titled “Experimental Analysis of Radiofrequency Discharges”.
  • 2nd prize for a thesis: Borja Bayón, for his master’s thesis titled “Sparse Regression for the Breathing Mode Instability: Extracting Governing Equations from Hall Effect Thrusters Simulation Data”.
  • 3rd prize for a thesis: Alnira Mei Causing, for her master`s thesis titled “Thermomechanical Optimization of CFRP Primary and Secondary Mirrors of a Cassegrain Reflecting Space Telescope”.
  • Honorable mention: Antonio Montero, for his master`s thesis titled “Low-current Hollow Cathode design”
  • MISE predesign prize: “ALPHA” project, by Miguel Leiva, Antonio Hernández-Rodicio, Adrián Calleja, Fernando Solano, Brais García, Miguel Alonso, María Rodríguez, Jaime Ruiz and Lourdes Lobera.

Audiovisual Report of the Sener Foundation’s activities in 2022

28/07/2023

Madrid.- The Sener Foundation has published an Audiovisual Report on the activities performed over the course of 2022. The document seeks to compile the most significant initiatives carried out by the company in the most recent financial year.

The projects mentioned in the report include the work done by the Sener Foundation volunteers on the project to “Improve the socio-production chain for whole cane sugar in Sierra de Piura (Peru)“, for which they conducted an engineering study to improve this process. Also noteworthy were the R&D projects that the company carries out with universities, specifically with the Carlos III University of Madrid and the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

The report also provides information on the project “A challenge for science“. The initiative, aimed at promoting scientific and technical vocations in high school students, was presented the STEAM Euskadi seal and received, in December 2022, the Educaweb Award for Academic and Professional Guidance in the Company category.

Promotion of scientific research

In 2022, the Sener Foundation continued with its work to promote scientific research at the highest level through the Sener Foundation Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in Engineering. Plus, in order to reward research, scientific and technical excellence and quality, the Sener Foundation continued with its ST3LLAR Awards for the best undergraduate and Master’s Final Degree Project (FDP) in the fields and subjects of the Sener Aerospace Chair at the Carlos III University of Madrid.

On a related topic, in the area of promoting and supporting scientific research, the Sener Foundation completed the project to develop a room-temperature millimeter and submillimeter wave receiver at the Carlos III University of Madrid. It also continued to support the project developed by the Polytechnic University of Madrid to create smart traffic signals.

Partnerships with other entities

As part of its partnerships with similar institutions, the Sener Foundation renewed its agreement with the Lo Que De Verdad Importa (What Really Matters) Foundation to sponsor the 14th Lo Que De Verdad Importa Values Congress in Bilbao.

In the field of cooperation, Sener’s staff completed the volunteering project to “Improve the socio-production chain for whole cane sugar in Sierra de Piura (Peru)”. This initiative, carried out in partnership with the NGO Ingeniería para la Cooperación – Lankidetzarako Ingeniaritza (ICLI) and the University of Piura, ended with the delivery of an engineering study to improve the technical aspects of this production process.

Promotion of scientific and technical careers

In 2022, the Sener Foundation continued its support of the “Challenge for Science” project, which seeks to promote scientific-technical careers among kids and teens, and specifically in high school courses. This project is carried out in collaboration with the Sener Group, whose employees introduce engineering, technology and science to kids in schools by presenting them the challenges these engineers face in their daily lives.

This project relied on the cooperation of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, which is part of the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Innovation and Science. It has also received the STEAM Euskadi Sariak seal, presented by the Department of Education of the Basque Government and Innobasque, the Basque Innovation Agency.

In December 2022, “A Challenge for Science” also received the Educaweb Award for Academic and Professional Guidance in the Companies category.

The Sener Foundation sponsors the Air and Space Army Award for University Aerospace Research

12/07/2023

Madrid, 2023 – On June 27, the Air and Space Army Awards ceremony took place, which this year was sponsored by the Sener Foundation in the category of University Aerospace Research. The meeting, presided by Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles. The event was also attended by Sener Aerospacial’s General Manager, José Julián Echevarría.

In the category sponsored by the Sener Foundation, the winner was Enrique Cabezas Castaño, for his work ‘Study to the approval for the use of biofuel on CASA C101 aircraft of the Spanish Air Force’. The object of this work highlights the commitment of the Air Force with the protection of the environment and with the pursuit of energy efficiency framed within the national, European and NATO strategic objectives. The research itself has a very important practical application both in flight and on the ground and is supported by exhaustive knowledge of military and civil regulations. This is a pioneer study that establishes a line of great application in future platforms.

With these awards, which this year celebrate their 18th edition, the Air and Space Army and the Sener Foundation aim to highlight the work of researchers and scientists as the main agents for the advancement of society and drivers of development and innovation in the aerospace industry. The sponsorship of the Air and Space Army Awards by the Sener Foundation is one more example of the entity’s commitment to promoting scientific research to improve people’s lives.

The Sener Foundation presents the 2021 award for Best Doctoral Thesis to a PhD from the University of Castilla-La Mancha

12/04/2023

Madrid – Martín Muñoz Morales, a PhD from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, has been awarded the 2021 Sener Foundation Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Engineering for his work titled Development of electrochemical technologies for the treatment of liquid and gaseous effluents polluted with chlorinated hydrocarbons. Professors Pablo Cañizares and Manuel Andrés Rodrigo supervised the work and also shared in the award.

The jury noted the quality of the ambitious, well formulated and pragmatic thesis, which defines its scientific contribution and presents its results clearly, while at the same time proposing valuable areas of future research.

The President of the Sener Foundation and of Sener, Andrés Sendagorta, wanted to underscore “the important work of researchers to the advancement of society and to improving the quality of life of people.” He also noted “the contribution of this thesis, focused on the development of new electrochemical technology processes for treating soils polluted with chlorine compounds, as well as for treating the gaseous compounds that are emitted during the processing of these compounds.” The thesis falls within the scope of Environmental Engineering, and focuses on solving environmental problems, such as soil clean-up, using methods that can be applied in actual cases thanks to their technical and economic viability.

Upon learning that he would receive the award, the author of the thesis, Martín Muñoz, remarked “on the great incentive and motivation it provides to everyone who strives to achieve the highest quality research work and, above all, on how it recognizes the effort, dedication and commitment needed to prepare a doctoral thesis”.

For their part, the Directors of the thesis, Pablo Cañizares and Manuel Andrés Rodrigo, expressed “their happiness and gratitude for this recognition, which motivates them to further undertake rigorous and quality research and to uphold their commitment to transferring knowledge to society”.

Through its Best Doctoral Thesis Award, the Sener Foundation aims to stimulate research at the highest level in the areas of science and technology in which the Sener group is active, namely, in the aerospace, infrastructure, energy and marine engineering sectors. The prize is worth 12,000 euros for the author of the thesis and a further 3,000 euros to be divided equally among the thesis advisors.

Currently, the theses submitted to the Sener Foundation Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Engineering for works defended in 2022 are in the evaluation process.