The Agbar Chair presents the 3rd prize for the best Master’s Thesis in the field of Sustainable Development

This Monday, October 20, 2025, Dr. Toni Aira, director of the Chair of International Studies in Institutional Communication for Development and Sustainable Growth, established by the UPF Barcelona School of Management in collaboration with AGBAR, announced the third Prize for the Best Master’s Thesis in the field of Sustainable Development. The winners were Adrià de las Heras and Martina Moris, who presented their master’s thesis (MT) under the supervision of Dr. Carles Pont, as part of the 2024-25 academic year of the Master in Political and Institutional Communication at UPF-BSM.

The jury that decided among the different candidates—who, from a variety of UPF-BSM programs, submitted their MTs for the award—was composed of the school’s Director General, Dr. José Manuel Martínez Sierra, Dr. Rodrigo Cetina, Associate Dean of Education and Academic Affairs, and Dr. Aira himself, as chair director. Ultimately, by unanimous decision, the winning thesis was that of Moris and De las Heras, titled “Crisis Communication in Municipalities with Fewer than Five Thousand Inhabitants: Diagnosis and Action Manual for Effective Management.”

During the award ceremony, Aira stated that “this research is directly aligned with the topics of sustainability and sustainable development, as many emergencies affecting small municipalities (wildfires, floods, heatwaves, or storms) are increasingly frequent phenomena in the context of the climate emergency.” He emphasized that the thesis is a useful proposal because “providing these institutions with more robust communication tools contributes to strengthening their resilience and capacity to adapt to environmental challenges (SDG 13: Climate Action). At the same time, it supports small municipalities, especially in rural areas, with a clear dimension of territorial equity and reduction of inequalities (SDG 10), ensuring that residents in these towns are not less protected or informed than those in large cities. It also impacts the population’s well-being (SDG 3) and the development of safe and sustainable communities (SDG 11).”

The students expressed their gratitude for the recognition and argued that “the project not only fills an academic and professional gap but also becomes a tangible contribution to global sustainability goals, strengthening local institutions in their response to crises and emergencies.”

For the 2025-26 academic year, the fourth edition of the Prize has already been announced, again aiming to promote applied research that addresses sustainability and/or sustainable development, directly or indirectly, with the goal of fostering and giving visibility to these issues.