2025 INL Awards Wrap-Up: Honouring Scientific Excellence

The pursuit of scientific excellence is a shared ambition among all INLers. Every day, our researchers step into the laboratory with unwavering dedication and laser-focused expertise, determined to advance the frontiers of science—and, ultimately, improve the future of society.

In 2025, their efforts earned widespread recognition within both national and international scientific communities. The following overview celebrates the achievements, grants, and awards that marked an exceptional year for INL.

Triumph season began in February when Maria Relvas, a research associate from the Dieguez group, received a Research Initiation Grant by the Portuguese Cancer League to advance cancer diagnosis.

Soon after, Begoña Espiña was appointed as a Water Europe expert, acknowledging INL group leader’s exceptional contributions to water quality research, particularly in developing portable and automated devices for the selective detection and quantification of chemical and biological contaminants in water.

In April, the laboratory welcomed an ERC Consolidator Grant recipient. Rui Domingues, now group leader at INL, serves as the scientific project manager of the EU-funded FORTIFy project, which aims to develop wireless nanoswitches to control PIEZO channels—specialised cell force sensors—to restore tendon function.

Summer brought further acclaim as Clivia Sotomayor won the Bloch Prize 2025. As a pioneer in the field of phononics, Sotomayor was honoured due to her sustained and outstanding contributions to the science of phononic materials, wave propagation, and related phenomena.

Building on this momentum, INL’s Andrea Capasso was appointed Co-Lead of IAM-I Electronics Working Group 4. This appointment stands as a testament of INL’s leadership in the European advanced materials ecosystem.

September, saw Vicente Lopes, from Alpuim Group, win the SiNANO Institute Best Paper Award with the article: “Graphene-enabled glucose sensing: From field-effect transistors to next-generation wearables”. His outstanding work introduced a breakthrough approach to non-invasive glucose monitoring.

Simultaneously, Bruno Romeira joined the Photonics100 2026, an elite list celebrating the 100 most innovative minds shaping the global photonics industry. The research scientist at Nieder’s Group was included thanks to his groundbreaking research at the frontier of neuromorphic nanoscale photonics.

Autumn 2025 brought a cascade of honours. Clivia Sotomayor was presented with the prestigious “30-year Nanoimprint Pioneer Award”. Having the 24^th NNT Conference as setting, the award ceremony served to recognise her remarkable work in advancing nanoimprint lithography and its applications across science and industry.

November was quite the eventful month. Catarina Lopes, member of Piteira’s Group, won the Maria de Sousa Prize with the project “SNIFF: Volatile organic compounds in saliva for non-invasive detection of gastric cancer”.

Just two days later, INLer Leonor Ribeiro competed at the Falling Walls Lab Global Finale. As one of the 100 international finalists, the researcher from Nieder’s group secured her place on the global stage after winning first place at the inaugural Falling Walls Lab Portugal.

Back in Portugal, Joana Araújo, member of the Kolen’ko research group, was honoured with Best Shotgun Poster Award, at the International Caparica Conference PTIM. There, Joana presented a poster titled Covalent Organic Frameworks and Composites for Efficient Adsorption of Pharmaceuticals in Natural Waters“.

Adding to this impressive list, Sara Abalde-Cela, from the Dieguez Group, won the the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant, worth €2 million for her proposal “Deciphering multilevel cell-to-cell communication through microfluidic and plasmonic decoders”.

The year concluded with Clivia Sotomayor receiving her third accolade of 2025: the 2025 Klemens Lifetime Achievement Award. The prize honoured Clivia’s research legacy in phonon scattering in semiconductor nanostructures and her sustained efforts to foster a collaborative phonon community.

Filled with pride for the exceptional talent within our walls, INL congratulates all the INLers mentioned above—and those who, even without a prize, continue to push the boundaries of science.

In 2026, INL remains committed to cultivating world-class talent and strengthening its position as a leading research centre, held to the highest standards of scientific excellence.

Text by Clara Miranda