Mathematician and popularizer Clara Grima will receive the "Passion for Science" Award at the IV edition of #LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival

The Science Museum of the University of Navarra has awarded the "Passion for Science" prize of the international scientific film festival #LabMeCrazy! to Clara Grima, professor of Applied Mathematics and researcher at the University of Seville, for her excellent work in teaching and disseminating mathematics to society in general and especially to young people. This recognition will be presented at the festival's awards gala to be held on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. at the MUN Theater (Museo Universidad de Navarra).

"An award like this is always a wonderful gift and a responsibility that is gladly accepted. But, looking at the winners who preceded me in the Passion for Science Award, the value of the gift and the responsibility are multiplied by (almost) infinity. I am frankly happy and excited. I hope that this recognition and its dissemination will also help many girls and boys to be curious about mathematics and to be as passionate about it as I am. There is nothing more human or more beautiful than mathematics", said Clara Grima on the occasion of the awarding of the prize.

Clara Isabel Grima (Coria del Río, Seville, 1971) holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Seville, where she is a full professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics. She currently chairs the outreach committee of the Spanish Royal Mathematical Society (RSME). Her research has focused on graph theory and computational geometry, where she has provided interesting results such as, for example, the identification of a new geometric shape found in the epithelial cells of curved tissues (the squtoids), a work she has carried out together with other researchers.

Grima combines his teaching and research work with the scientific dissemination of mathematics, with the publication of books, radio programs, participation in events and shows of scientific dissemination, talks in schools and institutes, and interventions in different media. Some of his books, such as the collection of short stories "Mati y sus mateaventuras", "Que las matemáticas te acompañen" or "En busca del grafo perdido" have been great publishing successes.

Dr. Grima has received numerous awards and recognitions among which the Gold Medal Province of Seville (2022), Rome Prize (2019) for her work as a popularizer, Mario Bohoslavsky Award (2018), COSCE Award for the Dissemination of Science (2017), Bitácoras Award for Best Podcast (2016) and Best Education Blog (2011), or the PRISMAS Award for Best Popular Science Website (2013), among many others.  

Bienvenido León, director of #LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival, wanted to highlight the informative work of this scientist: "Clara Grima is a very solvent scientist. But she is also a popularizer who has been able to innovate and handle with ease different media, such as books, conferences, television programs and blogs. She is doing a valuable job of disseminating a subject that is, in principle, arid and difficult, such as mathematics. However, her work shows that mathematics can be exciting when it is told as she does".

With this recognition Clara Grima joins other scientists who have reaped a brilliant career, and who have been awarded in previous editions of this festival(Francis Mojica in 2019, Margarita del Val in 2020, and Luis Enjuanes, Vicente Larraga and Mariano Esteban in 2021).

On the occasion of this recognition, Dr. Grima will give the session"Teach me to think" for teachers of Secondary Education on Monday, February 20 at 5 p.m., and on Tuesday, February 21 from 9 a.m. she will give a workshop for students and teachers of Primary and Secondary Education centers entitled"Let mathematics accompany you". Both sessions will be held at the Science Building of the University of Navarra.  

#LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival is an international scientific film festival, promoted by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra -with the collaboration of the Government of Navarra, Pamplona City Council, Laboral Kutxa and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) / Ministry of Science and Innovation-, which aims to bring science to society and especially to young people.