The Técnico professor Teresa Peña, (Department of Physics/DF and Department of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering/DECN), was re-elected member of the Executive Committee of the European Physics Society (EPS). “My first thought after being re-elected was that being a member of EPS in the 21st century gives me the opportunity to make a difference”, says professor Teresa Peña, who was surprised by the final result: “I got the most votes of three candidates, one of them was representing a major institution in Europe”. “I am prepared for the job and I feel encouraged by the support and recognition demonstrated”, stresses professor Teresa Peña.
The new EPS Executive Committee was elected by the EPS Council. According to professor Teresa Peña, this re-election – the last possible according to the EPS statutes – as a representative of the member companies with less than 10,000 members, is also a vote of confidence.
“The EPS is an association whose members include 42 National Physical Societies in Europe, representing more than one hundred thousand European physicists. European universities, institutes and laboratories that lead scientific and technological development in Europe are elected as individual members”, highlights the Técnico professor.
The list includes Max-Planck Institute, CERN, ESA, the Helmholtz Center in Berlin, CEA Saclay in France, the INFN-Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy, the GSI in Darmstad, IBM, EPFL, the University of Zurich and Instituto Superior Técnico, among many other institutions.
“During my first mandate I focused on observation and measurement, as in an experimental work. I learnt and acquired awareness of the priorities of the institution”, stresses the professor. Professor Teresa Peña wants her second mandate to ruled by “action and innovation”. “I know that, in this second mandate, my work will focus on Education”, adds professor Teresa Peña.
Professor Teresa Peña shared “I am committed to spread the intellectual interest in Physics and the importance of research, in order to benefit living standards, sustainable resources, and equity of access to knowledge and technology”. The Técnico professor recalled Einsten’s quote “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”.
According to the Técnico professor, the financial crisis and the pandemic further highlighted “Open Science, data access and processing, homogenization and control of knowledge”. “The importance of critical analysis for decision-making in true democratic societies cannot be stressed enough”.
