The PhD student with the Simulation, Imaging and Modelling for Biomedical Systems (SiMBioSys) research group linked to the UPF Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC), isone of the twenty women selected in the region comprising Europe, the Middle East and Africa to receive the Google Women Techmakers distinction, the only Spanish representative and the second to achieve this award at UPF, following Luz Rello (2011).

This award aims to promote the presence of women in the fields of computer science, computer engineering and other closely related technical fields. The research by Jordina Torrents is directed byMiguel Ángel Gonzalez Ballester, UPF ICREA researcher and head of the BCN Medtech research unit, and by Mario Ceresa, senior researcher of the same group. The BCN Medtech unit is organized into four research groups engaged in research on topics related to biomedical imaging and signal processing, bioelectronics, computational physiology, and computer-assisted surgery.

In addition to a financial provision to promote the research that the PhD student is carrying out at the DTIC, the Google Women Techmakers award also includes a stage at the “Google King’s Cross office” in London from 18 to 21 June to get to know Google, attend conferences and present her own research to the scientific community, and to get access to an extensive global network of leading women in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship. The women are selected on the basis of the academic performance of the candidate, the leadership she demonstrates to increase the role of women in technology, and the impact of their research.

Cutting edge technology in foetal surgery

Jordina Torrents’s research focuses on the difficult task of building specific models and computational tools for foetal surgery. She is working in the areas of image processing, computer vision, artificial intelligence, computational geometry, machine learning and the development of computer systems for surgical planning.

She is currently collaborating with the foetal surgery team of Drs Eduard Gratacós and Elisenda Eixarch of Hospital Clínic and Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona, within the framework of a project funded by the CELLEX Foundation. She had previously worked on projects related to breast cancer, diabetic retinopathy and Alzheimer’s disease at Rovira i Virgili University.

In the words of Jordina Torrents, “with this distinction I intend to boost to my research career, and to increase the visibility of women in the field of engineering, where their presence has traditionally been in a minority”.