Helena Freitas awarded the Ciência Viva Grand Prize 2025
The 2025 Ciência Viva Grand Prize honors Helena Freitas (CFE/TERRA) for her pioneering contribution to ecology, biodiversity, and scientific culture in Portugal.
Professor Helena Freitas, coordinator of the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE) and member of the TERRA Associate Laboratory, is the winner of the 2025 Ciência Viva Grand Prize—the highest distinction awarded by the Ciência Viva Agency in the field of promoting scientific culture in Portugal.
The Ciência Viva Awards ceremony will take place on National Scientific Culture Day, celebrated on November 24, at 6:00 p.m., at the Pavilhão do Conhecimento – Centro Ciência Viva, in Lisbon, with streaming on the Pavilhão do Conhecimento YouTube channel – more info here (in Portuguese).
Since 2012, the Ciência Viva Awards have recognized individuals and projects that stand out in promoting science and technology in society. This year, the Grand Prize recognizes the career of CFE and TERRA researcher Helena Freitas. Throughout her career, Helena Freitas has carried out pioneering research in the areas of plant population ecophysiology, plant ecology and invasive species, agricultural and forestry management, and adaptation to climate change — always with a keen eye on biodiversity and the territory.
Helena Freitas has already responded to this distinction on her LinkedIn profile. For the researcher, this award is more than an individual distinction: it is a renewed incentive to continue involving communities, schools, and families in participatory, intergenerational science committed to the future of the planet. She also wrote:“As a biologist, I feel even more honored to see this area of knowledge valued at a time when we are called upon—with urgency and responsibility—to care for biodiversity and nature. The challenge we face is a collective one: to move toward a society that recognizes its interdependence with the living world and chooses to live in harmony with it.” – full comment here (in Portuguese).
Helena Freitas’ distinction honors not only her individual career, but also the collective commitment of TERRA members to open, transformative science that is deeply rooted in the territory.
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