Fundación Aon España and the Catastrophe Observatory have decided to create the Jose Maria Sarriegi Award for the best academic research article on topics related to disaster management that has been published in the previous two years in a specialized journal.

Each year, the Jose Maria Sarriegi Award will be eligible for all the articles received that comply with the theme and meet the criteria detailed in the bases of this call.

The award, worth 1,000 euros, aims to honor the memory of this academic and researcher, member of the Think Tank of the Catastrophe Observatory, who died in December 2018 as a result of a sports accident.

Jose Maria Sarriegi, professor and industrial engineer of TECNUN, was the deputy director of research of this school of engineers of the University of Navarra since 2016. His deep vocation for teaching and research led him to publish 29 articles in indexed journals, write 13 book chapters and present 80 papers at international congresses. He has been a principal researcher in European, national and regional projects.

For 24 years, his teaching work extended to fields such as information technology, information systems, modeling and simulation, knowledge management and project development.

Sarriegi’s academic career failed precisely when the Catastrophe chair of the Fundación Aon España began, an important qualitative and quantitative step to systematically structure and develop research and the study of catastrophes, including them in the areas of own study of engineering careers. Sarriegi provided a great deal of enthusiasm, knowledge and work to outline the contents of the Chair, always with a strategic vision and aware of the demands of creating this chair, the first of its kind in Europe.

The award that, from now on will bear his name, represents very well the professional and personal values ​​this exceptional master of engineers treasured. His example of integrity, enthusiasm, professionalism and human category are and will be an example for many students and teachers. Jose Maria Sarriegi used to say that «from catastrophes we can always emerge stronger».

From Fundación Aon España and its Observatory, we trust this award will undoubtedly contribute to stimulate and strengthen the progress of research in an area as important as the prevention and management of catastrophes.