The Frontiers Planet Prize announced today on earth day that Professor Raquel Peixoto is the 2024 National Champion for Saudi Arabia. This is a first such award for Saudi Arabia and any Arab nation. Peixoto earned the prize for her research on the use of probiotics to strengthen the resilience of coral reefs against climate change.
The timing of her prize is serendipitous Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, considered the leading opinion on related science, announced that we are experiencing the fourth global coral bleaching event on record and the second in the past 10 years.
The Frontiers Planet Prize was founded to recognize research that addresses the 17 United Nations’ Sustainabile Development Goals, as well as the nine planetary boundaries set by the Frontiers Planet Prize. This year marks the second annual group winners with no more than one coming from any given nation. Among the 23 winners, three will be declared international champions in June, and the institutes employing these champions will each receive 1 million Swiss francs for research purposes.
