•In 2024, the Abertis Chairs have awarded prizes to research projects in the different countries where these contests are held, and the International Prize, selected from among all the winners, has gone to contestants from France, Brazil and Chile, from the Université de Lyon, Universidade Federal do Ceará and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, respectively.

•The Abertis Chair Awards foster the connection between universities and business and strengthen comprehensive training and research in mobility management, transport and development in the field of planning and operation of transport systems with a view to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

•Ever since their creation in 2003, 900 researchers and students from 15 different nationalities have taken part, and more than 200 prize-winners have been awarded throughout the different editions.

21st November 2024.- The Abertis Foundation, together with Abertis, has announced the end of a new edition of its Abertis Chairs Awards, involving seven universities from all over the world that make up the Abertis Chairs International Network, the only University-Business cooperation network of its kind.

This year, it has awarded prizes to a total of 17 research projects from Spain, France, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico, while the International Prize, selected from among all the winners from each country, went to Louis Balzer from the Université de Lyon, with his doctoral thesis "Dynamic mobility management at cordon level: evaluation of different pricing-based strategies", followed by Lucas Sassaki Vieria da Silva from the Universidade Federal do Ceará with his master's thesis "Influence of moisture damage on fatigue cracking of asphalt binders, aggregate-binder interface, and mixtures", and Nibaldo Avilés-Rojas from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, also with his master's thesis "Flood impact on structural response of asphalt pavement: A finite element analysis and its extension to fragility models".

The prize-giving ceremony was held at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) and was attended by authorities such as Demetrio Sodi Cortés, director of Red de Carreteras de Occidente (RCO), Abertis' subsidiary in Mexico, Rosa Ramírez, Director of the Engineering Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and on behalf of the Abertis Foundation, its president, Elena Salgado.

Spain held its 21st edition of the event on 30th September. Meanwhile, at network level, a new shared study model has been proposed for high-capacity roads, with the aim of favouring users from a sustainability and road safety approach.

Since 2003, more than 900 researchers and students from 15 different nationalities have taken part in the Abertis Chairs Award, whose first Chair was in Spain, striving to find innovative solutions to meet future mobility challenges, and more than 200 have won awards throughout the different editions, thus forging strong ties between university and business.

The Abertis Awards are held annually and are aimed at undergraduate and doctoral students from any of the universities in Spain, France, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico, countries where the Group operates. The aim is to reward the best doctoral and master's theses in the fields of transport infrastructure management, road safety and sustainable mobility with a total prize of 7,000 euros. The research projects are evaluated by a jury based on the fulfilment of strict criteria such as: contribution of the research to the generation of knowledge, originality, generation of practical solutions and innovation; and writing, layout and presentation of the work.

The Abertis Award therefore is the prelude to the Abertis Chair International Award, a recognition awarded to the best research project from among the winners of each country's Abertis Chair Award, in a ceremony that is held each year in a different country. This year and, this time, to mark the third edition of the Abertis Chair Award Mexico, it was held in the city of Guadalajara.

"The Abertis Chairs International Network contributes to generate and disseminate new knowledge and innovations in the different fields of activity, making them serve society as a whole and the technical and educational community, and caring for and helping the talent that universities are capable of bringing to the surface and channelling", said Elena Salgado, President of the Foundation.

• Press release