Brazilian researcher Taina Fonseca was awarded the Mário Quartin Graça Scientific Prize, instituted by Casa da América Latina and Banco Santander, for her doctoral thesis at the University of Algarve.
Taina Fonseca was awarded in the “Technology and Natural Sciences” category. According to the jury, his thesis, entitled Environmental Risk Assessment and Toxicity of Pharmaceuticals in Coastal Tropical and Temperate Organisms, “focuses on the effects of a specific type of anticancer drugs that act on certain components of cells and in critical phases of the cell cycle, which have potentially serious consequences on marine ecosystems. This work thus contributes, in a relevant way, to the reduction of the environmental impact and the sustainability of the planet”.
Currently, Taina Fonseca is a researcher at the Marine and Environmental Research Center (CIMA) at UAlg, where she focuses her research on the potential effects of the consumption of fish contaminated by medicines on the human body.
The prize, which includes three categories, “Social and Human Sciences”, “Technologies and Natural Sciences” and “Economic and Business Sciences”, translates into a pecuniary prize of 3.000 euros per category.
In this edition, the following elements were part of the Award Jury: Arlindo Oliveira, professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon; João Proença, professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto; Pedro Cardim, professor at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa; João Paulo Velez, Director of Communication and Corporate Marketing at Santander Portugal; and Manuela Júdice, General Secretary of the Casa da América Latina.
The election of the winners took into account factors such as the theme's originality, its relevance in the context of closer relations between the aforementioned countries and the quality of the research.
Over its 12 years of existence, the Mário Quartin Graça Scientific Award has promoted the merit of doctoral theses, especially those that show interest for universities in Portugal or Latin America, or that result, in their preparation, from collaboration between universities on both sides of the Atlantic.
To date, 33 prizes have been awarded and more than 800 entries received, the largest number coming from Portugal and Brazil. This year, 80 applications were received from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Portugal and Venezuela.
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