Four UPV Researchers among the international scientific elite

Avelino Corma, Juan Bisquert, Hermenegildo García and Luis Guanter are four of the leading figures in the R&D carried out at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). All four are among the most influential Research staff worldwide in their respective areas of knowledge. This is reflected in the 2024 edition of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) List.

Avelino Corma, distinguished researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València, is one of the world's leading figures in chemistry; Hermenegildo García, professor at this university and Juan Bisquert, also a distinguished researcher at the UPV, are among the most influential scientists in the world, in this case included in the category of cross-field, which recognises the outstanding results and contributions of researchers in different fields. All three -Corma, Bisquert and García- carry out their research at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), a joint centre of the UPV and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

The list of leading researchers at the UPV was completed by Luis Guanter, professor and researcher at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), one of the tremendous international references in Earth Sciences (or Geosciences).

In the first person

Avelino Corma

Challenges: Significant scientific challenges include energy, sustainability, health, water, and food fields. As a central science, chemistry is involved in all these challenges, whether in the field of renewable energies, the circularity of production systems, or the scientific and technological challenges posed by decarbonisation. It also plays a fundamental role in the design and synthesis of new molecules and materials and in the development of gene editing procedures, with applications in medicine and agriculture.

A demand: Our current challenges require multidisciplinary teams with common and well-defined objectives. Current policies that favour individualism, the fragmentation of groups and the achievement of curricula adapted to quantitative bibliometric systems produce the opposite effect of the desired one. Scholars and industry must tackle the significant challenges through close collaboration and respect for each other's roles.

Juan Bisquert

Challenges: We face the scientific and technological challenge of finding materials and devices that reproduce the biology of intelligence in a way that can be quickly built to our needs. Recognizing the 2024 Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry for contributions in this area will boost research. We must create low-power, task-specific local intelligences that can be integrated with living matter using neural systems inspired by the human brain.

One demand: We must facilitate the consolidation of young Researchers; we must give them stability and projects so that they can tackle future challenges.

Hermenegildo García

Challenges: Decarbonisation and the energy transition continue to pose challenges for developing catalysts and processes to obtain abundant and competitive clean energy, both in electrolysers and in the direct use of solar energy.

One demand: Continued research and development efforts are needed to facilitate the energy transition necessary to mitigate climate change. In addition, innovation systems in this sector need to be encouraged.

Luis Guanter

Challenges: We are pleased to see that our satellite-based emissions detection methods are contributing to the mitigation of methane emissions on the planet, especially seen with a couple of "ultra-emission" events in 2024. A couple of satellites with great potential for this task have recently been launched, and we will be focusing our work on them in the coming months.

One demand: It would be essential to value the research work of public universities now that private universities are gaining so much weight.

99 throughout Spain

The HCR 2024 list includes 6886 Researchers -from 59 institutions in more than 1200 countries and regions- who stand out for their excellent contributions to scientific knowledge and their influence in their respective areas of expertise. Of all these individuals, 99 carry out their scientific work in Spanish institutions (in their first secondment).

The methodology determining the "who's who" of the most influential researchers worldwide is based on data and analysis conducted by bibliometric specialists and data scientists at Clarivate's Institute for Scientific Information™. Their analysis evaluates scientific articles that are among the top 1% most cited by field and year in Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science - specifically articles published between 2013 and 2023.