On 14 June, the Engineering School at Pompeu Fabra University delivered the awards for best research project, Talent scholarships and the TikTok 2024 awards. The event was held in the auditorium of the Poblenou campus and was very well attended, with more than 150 people present. 

The director of the Department, Vladimir Estivill, and the UPF vice-rector for Culture and Communication, Raquel Bouso, together with Vanessa Paulino and Iñaki Irissari, representatives of NTT Data and the Fundació Caixa d’Enginyers –financiers and collaborators of the Talent scholarships– got the event under way with a brief presentation.

Then, the finalists of the awards for best upper secondary school research project began to present their research, with a time limit of just four minutes and facing a round of questions from the panel composed of Rafael Ramírez, a professor at the School of Engineering, Roser Sánchez, an alumni of the School of Engineering and founder of Neuroelectrics, and Marcel Fernández, a current student at the School.

These awards aim to enhance the interest of secondary school students in the fields of study of engineering, and award a prize to each of the two winners: one, awarded by the panel, which went to the project “UFeel, l’armilla visionària” (UFeel, the visionary vest), by Èric Pibernat Reyes (Institut de Vidreres); the other, awarded by the public in attendance, for the work “Metaverse Walk”, by Josep Sales Ruiz (Escola Maristes Valldemia, in Mataró).
Both were granted a scholarship to study at the School of Engineering on any of its bachelor’s degrees.

Meanwhile, the delivery of the Talent scholarships was one of the highlights of the event. Students with the best admission grades for the 2023-2024 academic year received a scholarship of 500 euros to pay their initial registration fees at the School of Engineering.
In total, 40 prizes of 500 euros were awarded, distributed equally among the School’s five engineering degrees (eight each): four for the best entry grades by boys and four for the best entry grades by girls.

The official admission grades were obtained by taking the average of upper secondary school grades and university entrance exam (PAU) marks.

The TikTok awards added a touch of creativity at the end of the event. In this edition, the participating students had to make videos via the TikTok platform in which they had to explain “Things that future students of the School of Engineering should know”.

These awards encourage participants to make use of humour and be creative when giving advice to future students of the School. The prizes included a special mention and an award for the most original video, each endowed with 300 euros. The winners were Laia Tomás for the most original video, and Àlex Comas and Álvaro Monterrubio, with a special mention.

The prizes and scholarships awarded at this event are annual and are therefore set to enjoy a new edition next year.