Former director of the IFMIF-DONES España Consortium, Ángel Ibarra, returned to Granada after his retirement to receive the 8th Time Traveller Award granted by the Gravite Festival. A large delegation from the IFMIF-DONES team, led by Interim Director Moisés Weber and Head of the Executive Office José Aguilar, accompanied Ibarra during the ceremony held at Granada City Hall.

The award was presented by Granada’s Councillor for Culture, Jorge Saavedra, and the Territorial Director of CaixaBank in Andalusia, Juan Ignacio Zafra. Both praised Ibarra’s work not only as a scientist, but also as a science communicator and humanist.

The former director of the particle accelerator expressed his “pride and satisfaction” at being honoured in Granada. He also highlighted the special significance of receiving an award from civil society. “My obsession was to reach people, because if what we do is not explained, not understood, and does not receive the support of civil society… then it is not as useful.” He added, “I believe we have managed to make Granada aware of the accelerator.”

Following the official ceremony, the first discussion of this year’s Gravite Festival took place: a round table in which Ángel Ibarra was joined by filmmaker Manuel Sicilia, artists Lola Moral and Sergio García, writer May R. Ayamonte and rapper Sandra Quero, all of whom are connected in some way to the particle accelerator.