VCWAP 2025: Dánae Sanz-Pérez wins Best Talk Award

Congratulations to
Dánae Sanz-Pérez

awarded the prize for the Best Talk

During the 5th edition of VCWAP, 44 early-career women researchers gave talks on Zoom. Among them, Dánae Sanz-Pérez’s presentation stood out and was awarded Best Talk. Thanks to our sponsor Transmitting Science (thank you!), Dánae will be able to choose between two prizes: either two consulting sessions on incorporating storytelling into scientific communication, or three professional coaching sessions with expert Haris Saslis. 

Congratulations, Dánae, on this well-deserved recognition!

About the talk: ‘Unveiling 25 million years of dietary and ecological shifts in South American mammals through stable isotopes’ by Dánae Sanz-Pérez, Rodrigo L. Tomassini, Manuel Hernández Fernández, & Laura Domingo.

Dánae Sanz-Pérez presented a comprehensive isotopic analysis of over 400 enamel and orthodentine samples from 25 South American mammalian families, spanning 25 million years (Late Oligocene to Late Pleistocene) in Argentina. This study reveals major ecological shifts: Early diets were dominated by C3 plants, with increased variability during the Late Miocene (~10-9 Ma), and a notable rise in C4 plant consumption from the Pliocene onward (~4.7-4.5 Ma). The Late Pleistocene showed the highest δ¹³C variability, likely linked to geographic dispersion, habitat diversity, and climatic and environmental fluctuations associated with glacial-interglacial cycles.

Meet Dánae Sanz-Pérez

Dánae Sanz Pérez holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Sciences and a Master’s in Advanced Paleontology from the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain. Her Master’s thesis marked her first encounter with isotopic geochemistry. Recently, she defended her PhD at the same institution. Her research applies stable isotope analyses on bioapatite and collagen from Cenozoic fossil mammals to characterize paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and paleoecology. Specifically, she examines abiotic and biotic variables using isotope analysis of vertebrate fossils, particularly tooth enamel and bones from Cenozoic mammals in Spain and Argentina.

Since 2020, she has been president of the association Mujeres con los pies en la Tierra, and, in addition, she is president of the Women and Geology Commission of the Geological Society of Spain.

Both associations are committed to outreach initiatives to make the role of women in science visible. Beyond research, she is passionate about science outreach. Combining this interest with her hobby of illustration, she founded « Geodarte: El Arte de la Geología » (Geodarte: The Art of Geology) a science outreach project that uses her own illustrations and photographs to explain geological concepts. Moreover, she has illustrated three geological video games in collaboration with the Geological Society of Spain.

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