Mário Barbosa wins 2020 Klaas de Groot Award
Founder of INEB, the first institute in Portugal dedicated to the field of biomedical engineering, and with a pioneering research career in the field of biomaterials in Portugal and internationally recognized, Mário Barbosa was the grand winner of the Klaas de Groot 2020 Award, awarded by the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB). This award was created recently with the objective of rewarding researchers who stand out for their leadership and mentoring skills of junior researchers, contributing to their independence and autonomy.
“More than an honor, it was a great joy to receive this award”, said Mário Barbosa. “I met Prof. Klaas de Groot in 1988 - I invited him to come to Portugal to a conference that I organized, and later I had a sabbatical in his group. I learned from him that group spirit that is built when people feel at peace; he had an incredible ability to lead without command. In addition to being a world-renowned scientist, he has a very large human side”, he says.
By creating a prize under the name of Klaas de Groot, maintains Mário Barbosa, the European Society of Biomaterials is “transmitting the message that the professional capacity of a researcher is measured, not only by the scientific work he produces, but also by team spirit that he manages to create in the research group and by the researchers he manages to form and autonomize”.
“Throughout my professional and scientific life, I have promoted the autonomy of other researchers who are now internationally recognized. In addition, I have always believed that working with people with different skills only enriches and complements us. For that reason, receiving this award makes me particularly satisfied”, acknowledges Mário Barbosa.
ESB award winners (George Winter Award, Jean Leray Award and Klaas de Groot Award) were invited to give a lecture at the next ESB annual meeting, which will take place between September the 5th and 9th, 2021 in Porto, and will be organized by i3S researchers Ana Paula Pêgo, Cristina Martins, and Pedro Granja, respectively leaders of the research groups “NanoBiomaterials for Targeted Therapies”, “BioEngineered Surfaces” and “Biomaterials for Multistage Drug & Cell Delivery”.
Mário Barbosa's career path
With a degree in metallurgical engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Mário Barbosa received a doctorate in materials science from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom) and later specialized in the field of biomedical engineering, namely in the field of biomaterials. Full professor at the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), Mário Barbosa was co-founder of INEB, which he led for 12 years, and the first director of i3S, from 2015 until the end of 2019.
During his scientific career, Mário Barbosa assumed a leading role in the launch of doctoral programs, the creation of European intensive courses and several advanced courses and the organization of several international conferences in the field of biomaterials. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the European Biomaterials Society (1991-1995) and president of the Awards Committee of this scientific society (2007-2013), President of JNICT - National Board for Scientific and Technological Research (1992 to 1994) and President of the Scientific Council of Engineering Sciences of FCT (from 2002 to 2005).
Mário Barbosa has received several awards throughout his career, including the “George Winter Award”, awarded by the European Society for Biomaterials, which recognizes the excellence of the work carried out by a renowned researcher. He currently leads the research group “Microenvironments for New Therapies”, is director of the doctoral program Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences at ICBAS, and was recently elected Secretary of the International Union of Societies of Science and Biomaterial Engineering.