The President of the Confederation of Scientific Societies of Spain, Perla Wahnón, has awarded the award COSCE to the Dissemination of Science 2021 to Ignacio López-Goñi, Full Professor of Microbiology at the University of Navarra. This award recognizes the contribution of outstanding members of the academic community in the dissemination of knowledge.

The jury -composed of Perla Wahnón and scientists Carlos Andradas and José María Bermúdez de Castro- has highlighted, in addition to his teaching activities and research, "his extensive and continuous trajectory in knowledge dissemination both in blogs and social networks".

Among the 36 nominations for the award, the jury has awarded Ignacio López-Goñi, presented by the Spanish Society of Microbiology, for his variety of formats for the dissemination of science , including the publication of several high-impact knowledge dissemination books on viruses and pandemics, microbiota or vaccines, the authorship of several blogs, as well as his articles on the platform TheConversation, such as "Ten good news about the coronavirus", translated into six languages and with more than 21 million readers.

The jury has also highlighted the impact he has had in these last two years of pandemic, "his dedication and intense activity of knowledge dissemination, both for his interventions on television, radio and press, as well as in social networks and participation in round tables and conferences. All these contributions to the dissemination of science in general and on microbiology, virology and vaccines against COVID-19 have made him worthy of the award COSCE 2021 to the Dissemination of Science, endowed with 3,000 euros.

During the act of submission, the former president of COSCE and former rector of the Complutense University of Madrid, Professor Carlos Andradas, made a portrait of the awardee, where he pointed out the need for scientific knowledge to address the great challenges we face such as climate change, new forms of energy, poverty and inequality, among others. He also explained that to combat misinformation it is necessary to bring science closer to the public and improve the scientificEducation , characteristics that Professor López-Goñi welcomes.