National Statistics Award

The INE has awarded the 2025 National Statistics Award to María Dolores Ugarte Martínez, Professor in the Statistics and Operational Research area at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPNA), and coordinator of the “Spatial Statistics” research group at the same institution.

The jury based its decision on the breadth and excellence of her scientific output, her international prominence, and the transfer of her knowledge in social and industrial spheres of major importance.

Her contributions in the field of spatial and space-time statistical modelling stand out, as do the models that incorporate univariate and multivariate splines, the problems of identifying models with random effects and modelling in small areas of high dimension.

The jury also valued the importance of her institutional leadership in governance and scientific evaluation.

Dr. Ugarte is the author of more than 125 articles in internationally renowned journals. As principal investigator, she has led a total of 60 research projects funded either through public calls or by companies and other organisations.

Among her accolades are the SEIO 2024 Medal, the highest distinction of the Spanish Society of Statistics, Operational Research and Data Science, and the SEIO-BBVA Award (2021) for her socially impactful research on dowry death in India.

Throughout her career, Dr. Ugarte has stood out for her ability to connect statistical methodology with critical social needs and strategic sectors. She has developed and applied her research in areas as diverse as epidemiology, psychiatry, industrial statistics, and violence against women. During the COVID-19 health crisis, she and members of her research team developed an early warning system for wastewater using probabilistic methods. This tool facilitated decision-making at the Navarre Institute of Public and Occupational Health.

Furthermore, her work has had an impact on Public Statistics, particularly through her collaborations with the statistical institutes of Navarre (Nastat) and the Basque Country (Eustat). She has also collaborated with the National Epidemiology Centre and with the methodology division of the Center for Disease Control in the United States.

In the field of governance, she is the current president of the European Federation of National Statistical Societies (FENStatS), representing 27 societies across the continent. Under her leadership, it has consolidated European Statistical Accreditation and promoted statistical literacy projects for disadvantaged groups.

Ugarte also stands out for her teaching leadership, which has made the UPNA a pioneer in teaching statistics with the free software R in Spain. Her influence in this field extends to the international sphere as the lead author of a reference manual published by a prestigious American publishing house. In addition, she has supervised 13 doctoral theses.

Currently, she combines her teaching and research work with her position as director of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Mathematics (INAMAT).