Agustín Fernández Mallo

Invitado de Honor

(La Coruña, 1967) is a physicist and writer, and his literature has been translated into more than ten languages. Critics and readers alike in each country note the high literary quality and conceptual openness to other symbolic spaces and other ways of telling our present.

His latest novel is Madre de corazón atómico (Seix Barral). He is also the author of the novels El libro de todos los amores (Seix Barral); Trilogía de la guerra (Seix Barral, Biblioteca Breve Award, in English The Things We've Seen, English PEN Award, published by Fitzcarraldo and FSG); Proyecto Nocilla (Nocilla Dream, Nocilla Experience, Nocilla Lab, European Literature Award 2022, presented in the Netherlands); El hacedor (de Borges), remake and Limbo (Alfaguara).

His poetry collections, some of which have received awards, are collected in Ya nadie se llamará como yo (Seix Barral).

As a non-fiction author, he has written Postpoesía, hacia un nuevo paradigma, shortlisted for an Anagrama de Ensayo Prize; Teoría general de la basura (Galaxia Gutenberg, Award Premio Cálamo Extraordinario); La mirada imposible (Wunderkammer); La forma de la multitud (Galaxia Gutenberg, 1st Award Premio de Ensayo Eugenio Trías), and co-author, together with Bernardí Roig and Fernando Castro Flórez, of Wittgenstein, arquitecto (Galaxia Gutenberg).

Other activities involving the participant:

In the lost footsteps of the family

Patricio Pron

Invitado de Honor

Pron is the author of six books of stories, including El mundo sin las personas que lo afean y lo arruinan (2010), La vida interior de las plantas de interior (2013), Lo que está y no se usa nos fulminará (2018) y Trayéndolo todo de regreso a casa (2021);  and of seven novels, including El comienzo de la primavera (2008), My fathers' ghost is climbing in the rain (2011), Nosotros caminamos en sueños (2014), Don't shed your tears for anyone who lives on these streets (2016) y Mañana tendremos otros nombres (2019), as well as the essays El libro tachado: prácticas de la negación y del silencio en la crisis de la literatura (2014) and No, no pienses en un conejo blanco: literatura, dinero, tiempo, influencia, falsificación, crítica, futuro (2022), and of the dream diary Traumbuch (2022).

His work has been recognized on numerous occasions (including with the Juan Rulfo, Cálamo and Alfaguara awards), regularly included in anthologies and translated into 12 languages; these include German, English, French, Norwegian, Dutch, Chinese, Italian and Portuguese. In 2010, the English magazine Granta selected him as one of the 22 best writers in Spanish of his generation. More recently, he was the Director's Guest at the Civitella Ranieri residence for artists, and a guest lecturer at the Literature Department of the University of Cologne.

Pron has a PhD in Romance Philology from Georg-August University in Göttingen. He lives in Madrid with his wife and two cats. In 2023, he published La naturaleza secreta de las cosas de este mundo with the Anagram publishing house.

Other activities involving the participant:

One-way trip from nowhere
New masculinities: deconstructing to build better men?

Andrés Cota Hiriart

He is a zoologist, writer and science communicator. He studied biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a master's degree in a scientific documentary at the Imperial College London. He is the author of the books Fieras familiares (finalist I Libros del Asteroide Nonfiction Prize, 2022), El ajolote (Elefanta 3ed., 2024), Faunologías (Festina 2ed., 2024), Cabeza ajena (Moho, 2017) and from the children's book Madam Cuc, la dueña del paraíso (Elefanta, 2023). His texts are found in anthologies and media such as Revista de la Universidad, Gatopardo, Vice, Nexos, Letras Libres, Este_País, Wiered, among others. He has been a member of the National System of Art Creators (2018-2021), a speaker at TEDx and is the founder of the Society of Anonymous Scientists. He is currently the host of the podcast Masaje cerebral; he is a professor of literature at the Higher School of Cinema, and conducts the program Revista de la Universidad, on TV UNAM.

Other activities involving the participant:

The "other people": animals and nature in literature
Panel 4: The Communication of Science
Axolotl, traces of the little water monster in literature
Kamazootra, the most extravagant modes of reproduction in the animal kingdom

Sofía Aragón

She is a Mexican producer, actress, screenwriter and writer, author of three books on mental health and quantum physics. She represented Mexico at Miss Universe 2019, where she was the second runner-up. She was the host for six seasons of La Voz Mexico and La Voz Kids. She has lectured all over Mexico, Colombia and New York and has given four lectures for Tedx Talks. She studied acting and film directing at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles, California, and now she is dedicated to writing and producing stories within the cinematic world.

Felipe Zámano

He is a journalist from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a communicologist specializing in politics and social networks. Recipient of the Walter Reuter Journalism Award in 2018. He was there from the first click of the site Político.m , first as a content curator and now as a collaborator and host of the podcast Encuentros: la democracia explicada. He was a journalist for the Collective Dromómanos, and editor of the magazine S1INGULAR. He is currently the coordinator of the University Seminar of Social Networks and Digital Culture of the UNAM and coordinator of the diploma of social networks and digital media from the Faculty of Higher Studies Aragon and the General Directorate of Science Dissemination of the UNAM.

Jesús Ramírez-Bermúdez

He is a physician specializing in psychiatry and neuropsychiatry at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (INNN) in Mexico, where he directs the neuropsychiatry and cognitive neurology program. He has a PhD in Science from UNAM and is a professor of Scientific Methodology. He is a member of the National Research System of the National Council of Science and Technology.

He has published over 100 scientific papers in the field of clinical neurosciences. He has received awards in Australia (2006, International Neuropsychiatric Association), the United States (2011, International Conference on Bipolar Disorders) and the United Kingdom (2024, JNNP Lecture, British Neuropsychiatric Association). He published the treatise Principios de neuropsiquiatría (2019) and the text book Imágenes en neuropsiquiatría: lecciones de neurociencia clínica (2022).

He has also done extensive work in the field of scientific dissemination, literature and the cultural sphere. He is the author of the novel Paramnesia (2006, Penguin Random House) and the books Breve diccionario clínico del alma (2010, Penguin Random House), Un diccionario sin palabras (2016, Almadia), Depresión: la noche más oscura (2020, Penguin Random House) and La melancolía creativa (2022, Penguin Random House), which explore the boundaries between medical fiction, literary creativity and scientific essay.

In 2009, he won the Premio Nacional de Ensayo Literario from the Instituto de Bellas Artes de México.

Other activities involving the participant:

The need to "lose one's way." Madness and creativity

María Emilia Beyer

She is an expert in telling stories about science in exhibitions, radio, television and written media. She loves reading and writing; she is the author of nine popular science books for children and young people. She loves to design interactive exhibitions, such as Ciencia con sabor a chocolate and Mujeres inventoras. She works tirelessly to bring girls closer to science; she has been a master mentor of the New York Academy of Sciences for the international program 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures. Internationally, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and of the Board of Directors of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) for Mexico. Since 2020 she has held the position of Director of Universum, the Science Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her favorite role in life is to be Mily's mom.

Other activities involving the participant:

The language of plants and animals
Literature between dogs and cats
The letters of the garden
Wild sex
Space science

Clara Grima

Invitado de Honor

(Coria del Río, Seville, 1971)

She has a PhD in Mathematics and teaches at the University of Seville. She combines her teaching and research work with intense scientific outreach in various written media and radio and television programs, always with a focus on mathematics.

Her books include Hasta el infinito y más allá, ¡Que las matemáticas te acompañen!, Las matemáticas vigilan tu salud, En busca del grafo perdido and Mati y los matemonstruos. Her books have been translated into French, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Korean and Chinese.

She is the host of the program “Una matemática viene a verte” on Radio Television Española (RTVE).

She has won the Bitácoras Award for best education blog (2011), the 20Blogs Award for the best blog, the Prismas Award for the best science information website (2013), the special Prismas Jury Award (2018) for her outreach work, the COSCE Award for Science Outreach (2017), the Roma Award in the STEM woman category (2019) and the Passion for Science Award (2023) for her work as a communicator.

She was the first woman to give the opening address at the Granada Book Fair (2016) and was named Coriana of the year (her native village) in 2018. She has also received the Gold Medal from the City of Seville (2021) and the Gold Medal from the Province of Seville (2022). She also received the 2022 Meridiana Equality Award from the Regional Government of Andalusia.

She was the second Spanish woman mathematician in history to be invited to speak at the International Mathematical Congress, in 2022.

She has been on the jury of the Princess of Asturias Awards for Technical and Scientific Research since 2018.

She was included in the Forbes list of “the 22 people who will change 2022.”

Other activities involving the participant:

Crossroads. Mathematics, technology and literature

Andrés Cota Hiriart

He is a zoologist, writer and science communicator. He studied biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a master's degree in a scientific documentary at the Imperial College London. He is the author of the books Fieras familiares (finalist I Libros del Asteroide Nonfiction Prize, 2022), El ajolote (Elefanta 3ed., 2024), Faunologías (Festina 2ed., 2024), Cabeza ajena (Moho, 2017) and from the children's book Madam Cuc, la dueña del paraíso (Elefanta, 2023). His texts are found in anthologies and media such as Revista de la Universidad, Gatopardo, Vice, Nexos, Letras Libres, Este_País, Wiered, among others. He has been a member of the National System of Art Creators (2018-2021), a speaker at TEDx and is the founder of the Society of Anonymous Scientists. He is currently the host of the podcast Masaje cerebral; he is a professor of literature at the Higher School of Cinema, and conducts the program Revista de la Universidad, on TV UNAM.

Other activities involving the participant:

The "other people": animals and nature in literature
Panel 4: The Communication of Science
Psychedelic biology. Secret colors of nature
Kamazootra, the most extravagant modes of reproduction in the animal kingdom

José Luis Navarrete

Es profesor de taxonomía y artrópodos e investigador del Centro de Estudios en Zoología (CZUG) de la Universidad de Guadalajara (México). Su doctorado lo realizó en sistemática y ecología de insectos por parte de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Su investigación se centra en la taxonomía y ecología de coleópteros asociados a materia orgánica en descomposición, particularmente de las Staphylinidae (coleópteras) y Scarabaeoidea. Cuenta con más de 160 publicaciones en revistas especializadas como Journal of Natural History, Zootaxa, The Coleopterists Bulletin, Canadian Entomologists, Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Ecology, Nature Communications, Science, entre otras. Es editor de la revista especializada de entomología, Dugesiana, que edita la Universidad de Guadalajara desde hace 31 años. Cuenta con una veintena de libros, además de publicaciones de divulgación científica, con énfasis en los insectos.

Como parte de su trabajo de investigación ha publicado libros especializados que son referentes a escalas nacional e internacional, entre ellos: Guía Ilustrada para los Géneros de Staphylinidae (coleóptera) de México, obra publicada en colaboración con sus colegas: Alfred F. Newton, Margaret K. Thayer, James S. Ashe y Donald S. Chandler. Su libro de divulgación Historias de artrópodos recibió el apoyo por parte del Sindicato de Trabajadores Académicos de la Universidad de Guadalajara. 

Actualmente es el director del Centro de Estudios en Zoología y el coordinador del Cantinero Científico, programa de divulgación de la Librería Carlos Fuentes de la Universidad de Guadalajara.
 

Other activities involving the participant:

Plants are also sapiens

Adolfo Sánchez Valenzuela

Doctor in mathematics from Harvard University, after having obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has been a researcher at the Mathematics Research Center (CIMAT) for 36 years. He is known for his mathematical work on geometry and algebra topics inspired by theoretical physics; particularly, on supersymmetry. He is the author of both specialized and dissemination scientific publications and opinion articles disseminated through various media, including a novel, co-authored with the distinguished astronomer Julieta Fierro, aimed at high school students with the desire to pursue a scientific career. He has been a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII) continuously since 1987, where he is an emeritus researcher of the SNII since January 2023. He was the first coordinator of CIMAT's graduate programs, in addition to having been director of the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Guanajuato, general director of CIMAT, as well as founder and director of the Merida Unit of CIMAT.

Other activities involving the participant:

Algorithms in everything: from sending a hello on your phone to sending shuttles into space

Alonso Ramírez-Manzanares

He is a B tenured researcher at the Center for Research in Mathematics, AC (CIMAT), where he obtained his doctorate in 2007. He has a postdoc at the Radiology Department, School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. His research topics include medical image processing and computer vision. In particular, he works on classical and Moderna optimization methods for biophysical model fitting and image processing, the above includes numerical optimization and artificial intelligence methods. Quantitative MR, Brain Connectivity, and Brain-microstructure characterization are among the main applications of the methodologies he has developed in recent years. Multidisciplinarity is essential in his work, which is reflected in collaborations with people from neurocomputing and neurobiology institutes in Mexico and Europe. His research work has more than 1,400 citations.
He has led several international collaborative studies working shoulder to shoulder, with researchers from some of the most prestigious laboratories in the world. He is the main organizer of one of the most important neuroimaging meetings in the country: the Annual Neuroimage Meeting. Among his academic activities he has directed and co-directed theses of students of three doctorates, eleven master's degrees and ten bachelor's degrees. 
He is a state delegate, and has been in charge of the State Program of the Computer Olympiad since 2015.

Other activities involving the participant:

Algorithms in everything: from sending a hello on your phone to sending shuttles into space

Alonso Ramírez-Manzanares

He is a B tenured researcher at the Center for Research in Mathematics, AC (CIMAT), where he obtained his doctorate in 2007. He has a postdoc at the Radiology Department, School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. His research topics include medical image processing and computer vision. In particular, he works on classical and Moderna optimization methods for biophysical model fitting and image processing, the above includes numerical optimization and artificial intelligence methods. Quantitative MR, Brain Connectivity, and Brain-microstructure characterization are among the main applications of the methodologies he has developed in recent years. Multidisciplinarity is essential in his work, which is reflected in collaborations with people from neurocomputing and neurobiology institutes in Mexico and Europe. His research work has more than 1,400 citations.
He has led several international collaborative studies working shoulder to shoulder, with researchers from some of the most prestigious laboratories in the world. He is the main organizer of one of the most important neuroimaging meetings in the country: the Annual Neuroimage Meeting. Among his academic activities he has directed and co-directed theses of students of three doctorates, eleven master's degrees and ten bachelor's degrees. 
He is a state delegate, and has been in charge of the State Program of the Computer Olympiad since 2015.

Other activities involving the participant:

Mathematics, are they for real?

Adolfo Sánchez Valenzuela

Doctor in mathematics from Harvard University, after having obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has been a researcher at the Mathematics Research Center (CIMAT) for 36 years. He is known for his mathematical work on geometry and algebra topics inspired by theoretical physics; particularly, on supersymmetry. He is the author of both specialized and dissemination scientific publications and opinion articles disseminated through various media, including a novel, co-authored with the distinguished astronomer Julieta Fierro, aimed at high school students with the desire to pursue a scientific career. He has been a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII) continuously since 1987, where he is an emeritus researcher of the SNII since January 2023. He was the first coordinator of CIMAT's graduate programs, in addition to having been director of the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Guanajuato, general director of CIMAT, as well as founder and director of the Merida Unit of CIMAT.

Other activities involving the participant:

Mathematics, are they for real?

Andrés Cota Hiriart

He is a zoologist, writer and science communicator. He studied biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a master's degree in a scientific documentary at the Imperial College London. He is the author of the books Fieras familiares (finalist I Libros del Asteroide Nonfiction Prize, 2022), El ajolote (Elefanta 3ed., 2024), Faunologías (Festina 2ed., 2024), Cabeza ajena (Moho, 2017) and from the children's book Madam Cuc, la dueña del paraíso (Elefanta, 2023). His texts are found in anthologies and media such as Revista de la Universidad, Gatopardo, Vice, Nexos, Letras Libres, Este_País, Wiered, among others. He has been a member of the National System of Art Creators (2018-2021), a speaker at TEDx and is the founder of the Society of Anonymous Scientists. He is currently the host of the podcast Masaje cerebral; he is a professor of literature at the Higher School of Cinema, and conducts the program Revista de la Universidad, on TV UNAM.

Other activities involving the participant:

The "other people": animals and nature in literature
Panel 4: The Communication of Science
Psychedelic biology. Secret colors of nature
Axolotl, traces of the little water monster in literature