Belén Franch Gras (Valencia, 1984), NASA scientist and professor at the University of Maryland and the University of Valencia, will be one of the winners of the Night of Finance of Forinvest 2020. The awards will be delivered on Monday, 2 March during the most important business economic gala of the year, an essential event that brings together the main personalities from the world of economics, business, the insurance and financial sectors.

 

The innovation award will be received by this young Valencian physicist, who focuses her research on climate change and fighting hunger. From 2013 to 2019 she worked as an Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland and as a Research Associate at NASA. Since 2019 she has been working at the Universtitat of Valencia as a distinguished researcher, at the University of Maryland as Adjunct Associate Professor and is a member of the Group on Earth Observations Global Agriculture Monitoring (GEOGLAM) initiative, among which are the main international researchers coordinating the different works. in monitoring agriculture. Currently, she is a principal investigator on several highly funded NASA projects.

 

In 2018, Franch was awarded by NASA with the Early career achievement medal for her exceptional contribution to the field of remote sensing and her contribution to a better understanding of the Earth system and its agricultural resources. That same year, she obtained the highest score in the senior category in the Generació Talent program of the Generalitat Valenciana for the recovery of excellent doctor research staff for the development of R & D & I projects in the Valencian territory. In 2019, NASA rewarded her as a member of the Land Long Term Data Record Team for her exceptional work in producing, validating and distributing the longest global satellite database to date.

 

Previous acknowledgments

This award in which Forinvest rewards innovation and entrepreneurship was also received in previous professional editions such as Iñaki Berenguer, founder and CEO of CoverWallet and Ángela Pérez, CEO and president of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Genomic Medicine (IMEGEN).

 

The Finance Night will feature a keynote presentation by Ignacio Galán, president and CEO of Iberdrola, who will also receive another of the Forinvest awards for this edition and will be the prelude to the event, which will be held at Feria Valencia on the 3rd and March 4. In this way and for two days, the city will become the financial capital of the country, where the maximum exponents of the business and financial world will reflect on the current situation of the sector through its five forums and its two important working lunches, including at the Forinvest Forum.

 

Forinvest has as event partners Bankia, Santander, Caixabank, Sabadell, Ibercaja and the Generalitat Valenciana through the Valencian Institute of Finance (IVF), while Mapfre is the official insurer. The Valencia City Council is a sponsor of this call, which also has the collaboration of numerous companies, associations and professional groups.