Abril Sahade received the General PhD Thesis Award 2023 from the association that brings together the different national astronomical societies around the world.

The International Astronomical Union Doctoral Award recognises outstanding scientific achievement by doctoral students in astronomy from around the world. Each of the nine Divisions of the International Astronomical Union awards a prize to the candidate it considers to have done the most outstanding work in the previous year, and the nine Divisions jointly agree to award an additional prize, the International Astronomical Union Doctoral Prize at large. This year, the International Astronomical Union received 65 nominations of defended doctoral theses, including the work of Abril Sahade, directed by Mariana Cécere and carried out at IATE. The work was entitled Deflection of coronal mass ejections and submitted to the Sun and Heliosphere.

The IAU Divisions jointly said: “Dr. Sahade’s thesis combines a thorough and complete observational analysis and MHD simulations, including the development and implementation of observational analysis and numerical tools. The approach is innovative. The thesis is compelling not only for the advancement in the understanding of the underlying physics but also for space weather forecasting. Summarising, the thesis concentrates on the investigation of the evolution and deflection of erupting flux ropes (EFRs), the core of coronal mass ejections, from the early stages of their destabilisation in the lower corona. Multi-view point data (stereoscopic observations) are reconstructed in 3D to determine EFR trajectories and other physical parameters. Parametric studies using MHD simulations are performed to analyse factors contributing to the EFRs deflections. Particular complex events are modelled.”

Abril, in addition to having an excellent performance during her PhD, has actively participated in IATE's institutional activities, for example, being part of the directive council as a representative of those who had a scholarship. When asked about and congratulated for this distinction, she thanked the public university and, in particular, the UNC and the Argentinean scientific system for allowing her to pursue her undergraduate and postgraduate studies. She is currently a postdoc at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington, USA, where she is continuing her research.