Interdisciplinarity and enthusiasm for future projects have been awarded at the third edition of the Gladys Prize
- Amaia Abanda Elustondo receives the Gladys Award from the PUNTUEUS Foundation and the Faculty of Computer Science of the UPV/EHU
- The jury evaluated 28 applications that met all the requirements.
Amaia Abanda Elustondo (Donostia-San Sebastian, 1989) was the winner of the 3rd edition of the Gladys Award and received the trophy from PUNTUEUS and the Faculty of Computer Science of the UPV/EHU at a ceremony organised this morning at the Faculty of Computer Science.
The jury, in addition to valuing Abanda’s interdisciplinary nature, highlighted “her willingness to promote the role of women in technology and her enthusiasm for the projects of the future”. The Gladys Award was organised by the PUNTUEUS Foundation and the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Computer Science.
It is also sponsored by the Equality Body of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Women’s Institute Emakunde, with the collaboration of the industrial group Danobatgroup and the UPV/EHU’s Equality Department.
One of the main objectives of the competition is the creation of new women’s references in the technological field, as the number of men is still much higher than that of women. On the other hand, the prize also seeks to encourage STEM vocations among young people.
The event was attended by Nerea Isasi, Director of Equality of the DFG, Lorea Arakistain, Marketing Director of PUNTUEUS, Miren Elgarresta, Director of Emakunde, Naiara Aginako, Vice-Dean of Students of the Faculty of Computer Science of the UPV/EHU and Amaia Bernarás, member of the jury.
Abanda receives the award with great enthusiasm, but insists that we have to keep working. “The young girls of the next generation have to see that we have our place in the STEM professions and initiatives like the Gladys Award are a great help in achieving this goal”, she explains.
Olatz Aberlaitz, member of the Equality Committee of the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Computer Science, led the event and assessed the profiles of the winners of the Gladys Award. “The profile of the winners so far has been different, which shows the diversity among women working in the digital field and their contributions to society in different areas”.
“The assessment we make each year is increasingly positive. This year we have evaluated 28 applications, all of them of a very high standard, and we will continue to support this type of initiative”, added Lorea Arakistain, marketing director of PUNTUEUS.
Mathematics oriented towards computer science in professional life
Amaia Abanda was born in Donostia-San Sebastián in 1989. As for her academic career, she graduated in Mathematics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Subsequently, she completed a Master’s degree in Computational Engineering and Intelligent Systems at the Faculty of Computer Science of the UPV/EHU during the years 2014-2015. Finally, in 2022, he presented his doctoral thesis, carried out between the Basque Center of Applied Mathematics (BCAM) and the Intelligent System Group (ISG) of the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Computer Science.
She currently works at the Tecnalia research centre as a researcher in the field of data science. It is worth mentioning that she was awarded the prize for the best record in her Master’s degree and in 2018 at the Congress of the Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence (CAEPIA) she was awarded the mention for the best thesis project.
In addition to her work as a researcher, she is a woman of great initiative and in recent years has been involved in various projects related to cooperation, dissemination and gender equality.
About the Gladys Sariari Award
The aim of the award, which pays tribute to the figure and work of the computer scientist Gladys del Estal, is to reward young Basque women working in the digital environment, to create new references for young people and to disseminate their work. The award ceremony will be held on 26 September, at 11:00, at the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Computer Science.
About PUNTUEUS
PUNTUEUS is the entity responsible for the management, control and administration of the .EUS domain. In May 2012, PUNTUEUS submitted the application for the .EUS domain to ICANN and it was the foundation, in December 2013, who signed the contract with the body that manages the Internet.
The mission of PUNTUEUS is to use the Basque language to influence the digital transformation of society, promoting the dissemination of the .EUS domain and launching advanced digital transformation projects. There are currently more than 14,000 .EUS domains registered.
About the Faculty of Computer Science of the UPV/EHU
The UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Computer Science was one of the first 3 centres in Spain to start teaching computer science studies 45 years ago. It currently offers 2 undergraduate degrees (Computer Engineering and Artificial Intelligence) and 4 Master’s degrees, and its lecturers and researchers participate in 17 research groups.