This year, CQE launched the CQE Young Researcher Award, a new prize created to recognize outstanding scientific work by early-career researchers affiliated with the center. The award honors innovative research, scientific leadership, and impact within CQE’s thematic research lines. The winners were announced during CQE Days 2026 and received €500 each, equivalent to the annual pocket money given to CQE’s integrated researchers. This year’s awardees, Maria João Álvaro-Martins and Adrián Pastor, shared with us, in their own words, the impact of this recognition on their scientific careers.
Maria João, could you summarize the pathway that led you to CQE?
Yes, I completed my Ph.D. in 2021 at the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH), Spain, where I developed novel diketopyrrolopyrrole-based materials for use as active layers in organic solar cells. During this time, I was also a visiting PhD student in the laboratories of Dario Bassani and Reiko Oda at the Université de Bordeaux, France. There, I explored chirality induction from silica nanostructures to DPP derivatives. Following my PhD, I carried out postdoctoral research at Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM), focusing on developing chiral systems with enhanced circularly polarised luminescence, and investigating vertical charge mobility in self-assembled monolayers of helical foldamer molecules. I then returned to Portugal as a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), joining the OM2 group, where I developed fluorescent nanoparticles for bioimaging applications.
Adrián, could you tell us about your journey to Técnico in Lisbon?
I obtained my PhD in Fine Chemistry from the University of Córdoba (UCO), Spain, in 2022. During that time, I was a visiting PhD student at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), in Professor Dermot O’Hare’s group, where I delved into the synthesis and characterisation of layered double hydroxides (LDHs). I later held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal), in Professor Alexander Kirillov’s group, developing new photocatalytic coordination polymers and LDH catalysts for the oxidation of alkanes. I then carried out a postdoc at the Institute of Chemical Technology (Valencia, Spain), in Professor Hermenegildo García’s group, investigating LDH-based photocatalysts for the photoreduction of CO₂. Since 2025, I have been a Junior Researcher (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal) at the Instituto Superior Técnico (MINDlab group). Throughout my career, I have participated in several research projects and various dissemination activities, receiving multiple research and science communication awards.
To both of you, what is your current research line at CQE?
Maria João: I am currently a junior researcher under the CEEC-FCT programme at the Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE), IST. My current research interests focus on the synthesis and characterisation of small molecules, polymers, and functional nanomaterials for bioimaging applications.
Adrián: My current research focuses on new photocatalytic heterostructures based on LDHs/MOFs for air purification (NOx photocatalytic oxidation). Some of the challenges I aim to address relate to achieving even nano-distribution of the compounds, visible-light response, and photocatalyst reusability, while keeping synthesis procedures simple and product cost reasonable.
Maria João, Adrián, how has this award impacted your career?
Maria João: I see the CQE Young Researcher Award as a source of motivation to keep developing my research, and as a reminder that my work and perseverance are the driving forces behind my scientific career, encouraging me to continue transforming molecular systems into materials capable of addressing real-world challenges.
Adrián: In my view, the CQE Young Researcher Award acts as a “catalyst,” where small but key inputs can produce a great effect in terms of visibility, prestige, and motivation to keep pursuing my dream: research that solves societal problems.
