Awards were granted during the Energy Transition, Research & Innovation Conference, in October. The initiative will be repeated in the coming years
This year, for the first time, the FAPESP Shell Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI) awarded seven people whose activities in the Centre were outstanding throughout this year. The ETRI Excellency Awards were granted in October, during the Energy Transition, Research & Innovation (ETRI) Conference held by the RCGI in the city of São Paulo. The candidates were nominated by the Coordinators of the RCGI’s programs and the winners were chosen by a committee named by the RCGI’s Executive Board.
The award winners were: Vitor Harano Alves (undergraduate student), Nathalia Weber (Master’s student), Leticia Oliveira Bispo Cardoso (Doctoral candidate), Naiyer Razmara (Post-doctoral Associate), Thiago Lopes (Associate Researcher), Emílio Carlos Nelli Silva (Professor), and Gabriel Penna (outstanding administrative staff employee, in memoriam).
“I have been heavily involved with the RCGI and the projects that I coordinate, here. This award makes me very happy. The RCGI’s staff is formed by highly competent people,” says Professor Emílio Carlos Nelli Silva, who heads up Projects 5 (Optimization of systems projects for storing natural gas via adsorption) and 10 (Topological optimization of labyrinth seals). He stresses that the purpose of the RCGI, as a research hub focusing on carbon abatement, is a noble cause. “The carbon abatement research studies highly motivate us, because we apply the knowledge that we have already acquired to an extremely relevant area.”
Nathalia Weber emphasizes the significance of the award for her career. Under a Master’s scholarship with the RCGI, she is a cofounder of the team studying public perception of carbon capture and storage (CCS) at the Centre, and began her activities last year. “The RCGI opened its doors and gave us full support for developing activities of the public perception team. There were many discussions and outside Professors came to talk to us,” she explains, when asked about the activities that, in her opinion, resulted in the award she received.
“It was a surprise. I received an e-mail saying that I had been nominated for the award,” she said, after she arrived from a period of time in France at the French Petroleum Institute (FPI). “I believe that the time I spent there will also provide great prospects for partnerships with the RCGI.” Nathalia is a part of Project 36 (Carbon Storage in Geological Reservoirs in Brazil: Perspectives for CCS in Nonconventional onshore Petroleum Reservoirs and offshore Sedimentary Basins of Southeastern Brazil).
According to her, the RCGI welcomes and encourages new ideas, as well as being widely recognized in the area of CCS studies. “I believe that an award, like this one, gives more credibility to my research,” Nathalia says.
The Director for the Diffusion of Knowledge, Gustavo Assi, states that the recognition given by the awards takes into consideration “the body of work” of the nominees. “This included published works, participation in conferences, and publishing impact, but not only that. There was also the involvement with the RCGI’s activities, participation in events, and contributions made at various levels.”
According to him, the idea is to grant the ETRI Excellency Awards every year.