The award, presented by the Embassy of Romania in Spain and the National Confederation for Female Entrepreneurship of Romania, acknowledges Iliescu's distinguished career in academia. The award ceremony took place at the Casino Real in Madrid.
During her acceptance speech, Iliescu shared the honor with the University of Alicante, stating that "the university discovers, captures, trains, and provides female talent to society." She emphasized that the award "highlights the role of women in research and leadership."
Catalina Iliescu is a Professor of Translation and Interpreting (English) at UA and the principal investigator of a PROMETEO project. She has supervised five doctoral theses and four international translation projects. She is recognized for TRAUTOROM, the world's first open-architecture Romanian-Spanish architectural translator. Her academic output includes eight single-authored monographs, 55 articles, and 67 chapters, as well as editing six volumes for publishers like Routledge and Peter Lang.
She has been an invited speaker at various institutions, including the European Parliament and the Representation of the European Commission in Madrid. She has also directed six international conferences and works as a sworn translator and conference interpreter. Her literary translation work encompasses thirty published volumes.
Iliescu also directs the MIHAI EMINESCU Portal of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library. She has received numerous accolades, including a diploma from the Government of Romania (2008) and the OPERA OMNIA Award from the Union of Writers of Romania (2022), where she holds honorary membership.
Since 2020, she has served as the Vice-Rector for Culture, Sport, and University Extension at UA, having previously directed the Rafael Altamira Summer Courses and the University Campus of Alicante.
