Princess of Asturias Awards 2024

Michael Ignatieff received the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences for his defense of human rights and analysis of political conflicts, while Daniel J. Drucker was honored with the Technical Scientific Research Award for his significant contributions to medicine and research.

The Embassy of Spain in Canada has supported the candidates’ applications.

Michael Ignatieff

2024 Princess of Asturias Award For Social Sciences

Michael Ignatieff’s broad-ranging and varied career stands out for his defense of fundamental and universal human rights and values. Through his books, articles, and television programs, he has contributed ideas for overcoming ethnic and religious differences and the search for common values within the context of globalization, the clarification of the consequences of the technological revolution, the analysis of moral conflicts in the face of cultural relativism, and opposition to violent nationalisms, among other topics.

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, made up of María Paz Battaner Arias, Javier Echeverría Ezponda, Teresa Freixes Sanjuán, Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurúa, Mauro Guillén Rodríguez, Silvia Iranzo Gutiérrez, Araceli Mangas Martín, Ricardo Martí Fluxá, Manuel Menéndez Menéndez, Jaime Montalvo Correa, Leandro Prados de la Escosura, María Dolores Puga González and Fernando Vallespín Oña, chaired by Alejandro Portes and with Jaime Pérez Renovales acting as secretary, has decided to grant the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences to Canadian academic and essayist Michael Ignatieff.

His intense, multifaceted professional career, which ranges from the study of history and philosophy to the practice of journalism and politics, is characterized by the application of critical thought to the major political conflicts of our time. In his work, the analysis of specific political problems is always carried out with a view to the exacting standards of democratic systems. The result is an original mix of political realism, humanism, and liberal idealism, in which concern for the values of freedom, human rights, tolerance, and the safeguarding of institutions comprises his fundamental concern.

This author’s contribution constitutes an essential benchmark to guide us in these present times replete with armed conflicts, political polarization and threats to freedom.

Daniel J. Drucker (with Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst & Svetlana Mojsov)

2024 Princess of Asturias Award For Technical Scientific Research

Daniel J. Drucker (Montreal, Canada, June 26, 1956) graduated in Medicine from the University of Toronto in 1980. He completed his medical internship between 1980 and 1981 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and his residency at the University of Toronto from 1980 to 1984. In 1984, he obtained a scholarship to work at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined Toronto General Hospital in 1987, where he worked until 2021. Since 2006, he has been a senior researcher at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. He combines his research with lecturing at the University of Toronto, where he was appointed assistant professor in 1987 and obtained a full professorship in 1996.

He is the author of approximately 430 scientific papers and 33 patents. According to Google Scholar, he has been cited 89,195 times and has an h-index of 148. Drucker was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada and, in 2015, was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities). He is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine of the United States, among other institutions.

The numerous recognitions he has received include the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (2014); the Rolf Luft Award from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden, 2017); appointment as Keith Harrison Memorial Lecturer by the Australian Endocrine Society (Australia, 2019); the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, shared with Jens Juul Holst and Joel F. Habener (United States, 2020); the Gairdner International Award from the Gairdner Foundation (Canada, 2021); the Wolf Prize in Medicine (Israel, 2023); and the VinFuture Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields from the VinFuture Foundation (Vietnam, 2023). Together with Joel F. Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Jens Juul Holst, he has been included on TIME magazine’s TIME 100 Health list of the most influential people in health for 2024.