Mónica Sousa wins the University of Porto’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research
i3S researcher Mónica Sousa has won the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in the field of Health and Life Sciences. The award, worth €7,500, is presented by the University of Porto (U.Porto) and recognises the scientist’s contribution “to the creation of new knowledge and the securing of funding for research and scientific output”, explains the university’s rectorate.
Mónica Sousa says she is “deeply honoured by this institutional recognition of the value of research and researchers to the excellence of the University of Porto, as well as of the work carried out by the Nerve Regeneration group at i3S”. The award ceremony, sponsored by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, will take place on 23 March, during the celebrations marking the 115th anniversary of the University of Porto.
The scientist was one of five selected from a field of 29 candidates. In the Arts and Humanities category, the jury decided to award the prize to Teresa Ferreira, a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Architecture (FAUP). The Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in the field of Exact Sciences, Engineering and Technologies will be presented to two lecturers and researchers from the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), Lucas Filipe da Silva and Manuel Simões. The prize in the field of Social Sciences goes to Aurora Teixeira, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics (FEP) and a researcher at the FEP Research Centre (FEP.RC).
This is the third time that the Vice-Rectorate for Research and Innovation has recognised the work carried out at i3S. In 2019, the award was presented to Helder Maiato, leader of the Chromosome Instability & Dynamics research group. Last year, researcher Paula Soares, who leads the Cancer Signalling & Metabolism group, was one of the scientists to receive the award.
About Mónica Sousa
Since 2008, Mónica Sousa has led the Nerve Regeneration research group at i3S, which is dedicated to uncovering the mechanisms that regulate the growth and regeneration of axons. Among her group’s key discoveries is the identification of the Cairo spiny mouse as the first known mammal capable of spontaneously regenerating its spinal cord, a discovery that has opened up new prospects in regenerative medicine.
The recipient of numerous awards and honours throughout her career – the Pfizer Award for Basic Research (2016), the Bluepharma Innovation Award (2018), the Grünenthal Dor Award (2021), the Melo e Castro Award (in 2019 and 2022), among others – she saw the excellence and impact of her work recognised in 2024 with her election as a life member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).
In 2025, she was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant worth €2.5 million by the European Research Council (ERC), which she has used to research new treatments for spinal cord injuries in humans.
