Month: March 2026

The Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I, in collaboration with Vectalia, is organising activities on the UA campus and, in the afternoon, a panel discussion on biodiversity, desertification and climate change to mark Earth Day

To coincide with Earth Day on 22 April, the Vectalia Group and the Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I have organised, in collaboration with the University of Alicante, a range of activities to highlight the need to preserve the planet and protect biodiversity.

The event will open at 10.30 am at the monolith opposite the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, with speeches by Amparo Navarro, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alicante, and Javier Quesada, President of the Fundación Premios Rei Jaume I, Antonio Arias, Chairman of the Vectalia Group, and Vicente Martínez Mus, the Regional Minister for the Environment of the Generalitat.

Following the opening ceremony, pupils and teachers will be able to take a guided tour of the Geological Time Line, after which they will plant native trees and aromatic plants on the campus.

At 1.00 pm, the event will move to the Casa Sicilia Winery in Novelda, where there will be guided tours of the estate, the Mediterranean garden dedicated to Doña Julia will be unveiled, and the documentary “La bodega y la tierra” will be screened for the first time, highlighting the estate’s connection with the local area and its traditions.

This evening, at 6.00 pm, the Altamira Hall at the UA’s University Campus will host the scientific debate ‘Biodiversity, desertification and climate change’, moderated by journalist María Cáceres of Cadena Ser in Alicante, focusing on the environmental challenges of the 21st century. Participants will include José Luis Rubio, winner of the 1996 Rei Jaume I Prize for Environmental Protection, a Doctor of Agricultural Engineering and scientific researcher at the CSIC; Jordi Cortina, Professor of Ecology at the University of Alicante and holder of a PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona; and Jorge Olcina, Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis at the University of Alicante, where he teaches courses on Spatial Planning, Climatology and Natural Hazards.

“There has been significant progress in terms of women’s participation in science and business, but cultural, educational and organisational barriers that hinder professional development still persist,” the participants at the Women, Science and Business Colloquium agreed

The Fundación Valenciana Premios Rei Jaume I (FPRJ) has held the tenth edition of the ‘Women, Science and Business Colloquium’, an event which, for a decade, has brought together leading female professionals to reflect on the evolution of women’s role in key areas for the development of society. Under the theme “A decade of change through a non-conformist lens”, the event served to analyse the progress made over the years and, at the same time, to identify the challenges that still remain.

Broadly speaking, all the female professionals on the panel agreed that generations have changed considerably, that there have been significant improvements and progress has been made, but that there are still major social and cultural factors to be overcome in order to achieve genuine equality. Similarly, they noted that in certain areas there is still significant scope for improvement in terms of women’s empowerment and self-confidence, and that further work is needed to support them.

The event, held at CaixaBank’s headquarters in Valencia, was attended by the winner of the 2025 Rei Jaume I Prize for Clinical Research and Public Health, Silvia de Sanjosé, businesswoman Myriam Gimeno, CEO of Nealis; technologist and economist Laura Olcina, managing director of ITI; and journalist and economist Rebeca Gimeno. The discussion was moderated by the journalist Pepa Fernández, director of the RNE programme *No es un día cualquiera*, who had previously hosted the first editions of this event.

Progress, but challenges remain

During the discussion, the speakers agreed that, over the last ten years, there have been significant advances in the representation of women in science, business and the media, although cultural, educational and organisational barriers that hinder professional development still persist.

Researcher Silvia de Sanjosé recalled how the medical profession has undergone a generational transformation in terms of the inclusion of women, although she pointed out that for many years female professionals have had to navigate predominantly male environments and, at times, face dismissive attitudes or stereotypes. In her view, one of the major challenges remains normalising motherhood within organisations, with adequate support structures to ensure that the burden of work-life balance does not fall exclusively on women, and she shared her own experience: “When it comes to motherhood, the blow suffered by a company or organisation when it loses an employee for a few months is significant, but we need to help those in management understand this. In one year, I had 12 pregnant women on my team, and management only provided me with one replacement; the rest of the workload had to be shared out. We need to provide more support if we want women to experience motherhood in a more normalised way.”

He has also put forward the idea that “why don’t we promote the three French concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity more widely, so that they encompass the whole of society and enable us to live in harmony? These humanist principles are what we must strive to pass on to our young people”.

For her part, businesswoman Myriam Gimeno has emphasised the importance of raising the profile of female role models to attract talent to certain sectors, particularly in fields traditionally dominated by men. However, she also pointed out that women themselves sometimes tend to avoid taking on greater professional responsibilities in favour of a better quality of life, which raises new debates about ambition, leadership and personal priorities.

Education and culture to break the cycle of inertia

The managing director of the Institute of Information Technology, Laura Olcina, has highlighted that the number of women in technology-related degree courses remains low — around 12 or 13 per cent in computer engineering — and has emphasised the need to encourage STEM careers from the earliest stages of education. She also warned that remote working, whilst facilitating a better work-life balance, can also be a double-edged sword if it reduces women’s professional visibility.

Speaking from the field of communications, Rebeca Gimeno pointed out that men continue to dominate economic journalism, particularly amongst sources and in management roles. In her speech, she highlighted how many women feel they have to work harder to prove their professional ability and referred to social dynamics that still assign women invisible tasks within the workplace – a phenomenon that some studies have termed the ‘coffee machine syndrome’.

New challenges in a changing landscape

The conference also addressed other emerging challenges, such as the impact of artificial intelligence on information and decision-making. The speakers warned that algorithms can reproduce existing biases in society, which means this issue must be addressed from an ethical and equality-based perspective.

The session also highlighted the generational shift in perceptions of feminism and equality, as well as the influence of social and cultural factors — including audiovisual content and social media — on the way in which younger generations interpret these issues.

Now in its tenth edition, the “Women, Science and Business Colloquium” has established itself as a forum for dialogue organised by the Fundación Valenciana Premios Rei Jaume I to raise the profile of female talent, encourage collective reflection and help build more equal professional environments

“A decade of change through a non-conformist lens” will take place on Thursday 5 March at CaixaBank from 11.30 am

This Thursday, 5 March, the Foundation is holding its tenth conference on ‘Women, Science and Business’.  The event is intended to be a space for reflection, organised as a round-table discussion, in which a wide range of current gender-related issues will be addressed, with a particular focus on the role of women in science and business.

This edition, the tenth, aims to be a compendium or summary of what these 10 years have entailed, under the title: “A decade of change through a non-conformist lens”, It will address and emphasise the supposed achievements and the progress made, acknowledging that changes have indeed taken place over this decade, whilst also highlighting the need to continue improving – to make it clear that these changes are not enough and that we must keep evolving and standing up for our rights.

To start with, there will also be another stand-up routine this year by Helena González from Big Van Ciencia.

The event will take place at CaixaBank’s headquarters at Pintor Sorolla, 2. The day’s programme will feature the winner of the 2025 Rei Jaume I Prize, Silvia de Sanjosé, the businesswoman Myriam Gimeno de Nealis, technologist and economist Laura Olcina, and broadcaster and economist Rebeca Gimeno. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Pepa Fernández, presenter of RNE’s programme “No es un día cualquiera”, who previously hosted the first two editions of this event in 2017 and 2018.