Dr. Patricia Horcajada, Head of the Advanced Porous Materials Unit at IMDEA Energy, has been awarded the Research Excellence Prize at the 2026 Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) Awards.

This distinction recognizes the recent scientific achievements of researchers who have made outstanding contributions to the field of chemistry.

Dr. Horcajada has a strong multidisciplinary background. She holds a degree in Pharmacy (2001) and a PhD in Materials Science (2005) from the Complutense University of Madrid. In the same year, she joined the Institut Lavoisier (France), where she worked first as a postdoctoral researcher and later as a CNRS researcher from 2007.

Since 2016, she has been a Senior Researcher and Head of the Advanced Porous Materials Unit at IMDEA Energy. Her research focuses on the design and development of multifunctional materials and their applications in strategic areas such as energy, environment, and health.

Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards, including the “Doctora de Alcalá” Research Excellence Award (2023) in Experimental Sciences, the Young Female Talent Award from the Royal Academy of Sciences (2022), the RSEQ Young Group Leader Award (2020), the Leonardo Award (2017), and the Miguel Catalán Research Award from the Community of Madrid (2016).

She is also ranked among the top 2% of the world’s most influential researchers, according to the classification compiled by Stanford University.