Ángel Borja honoured with CERF’s Odum Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr Ángel Borja (AZTI) has received the CERF Odum Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming the first nonUS recipient. The award honours his exceptional contributions to marine ecology and sciencepolicy integration.
The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) has awarded Dr Ángel Borja, Principal Investigator at AZTI and valued OBAMANEXT partner, the prestigious Odum Lifetime Achievement Award. This marks the first time since its inception in 1997 that the award has been conferred on a nonUS researcher.
Named in honour of Howard T., Eugene P., and William E. Odum—who laid the foundations of modern ecology—the Odum Award recognises a lifetime of contributions to our understanding of estuarine and coastal ecosystems. In recognising Ángel Borja, the CERF jury highlighted his development of AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and its multivariate variant, MAMBI—now industry standard in numerous countries and adopted by the US Environmental Protection Agency for coastal condition assessments.
With over 325 peerreviewed publications and more than 30,000 citations, Dr Borja’s scholarship spans habitat mapping, biodiversity, ecosystem services and biological oceanography. Since 2004, he has directed an annual international summer school on marine research in Donostia/San Sebastián, drawing 5060 participants per year from 1520 countries. The Summer School was acknowledged by the European Commission in 2024 for its academic and international impact. He has also mentored over 30 master’s and doctoral students from diverse countries, led multidisciplinary teams at AZTI, and acted as an effective communicator to policymakers and stakeholders across Europe and beyond.
Dr Borja is honoured to become the first nonUS recipient of this award, a milestone that underlines the growing influence of European marine science. He will receive the award on 9 November 2025, during CERF’s 28th Biennial Conference in Richmond, Virginia.
