The National Research Awards are Spain's most important recognition in the field of scientific research, although until now they have only been awarded in the senior category. Mínguez is, therefore, the first Spanish researcher under the age of 40 to be distinguished in the discipline of chemical science and technology.

Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas (1981) is full professor at the Universitat de València and director of the Crystal Engineering Lab (CEL) research group at ICMol. He graduated in Chemical Sciences from the University of Seville in 2004, with Special Award and Second National Prize. Later, in 2007, he received his doctorate from the University of Sheffield (UK) under the supervision of Professor Lee Brammer.

In 2008 he joined ICMol, where he trained in molecular magnetism with Eugenio Coronado, professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the UV and director of the centre. There he started a new line of research combining his previous experience in crystalline engineering and the knowledge acquired in magnetism to develop magnetic coordination polymers with dynamic behaviour.

He is currently leading the Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF) strategic line of the María de Maeztu programme for units of Excellence awarded to ICMol by the Ministry of Science in recognition of the scientific results of the institute. It is located in the Science Park of the Universitat de València. ICMol has been a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence since 2015 and renewed this accreditation in 2019.

The work of Guillermo Mínguez's group is aimed at both the development of molecular materials that form porous networks and the synthesis of new two-dimensional materials analogous to graphene. It has obtained European funding, through a grant from the European Research Council (the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant), but it also leads or participates in national, regional or company projects. 

Mínguez's career has already accumulated several prestigious awards, such as the Fundación Princesa de Girona award for Scientific Research; the Jóvenes Investigadores award of the Real Sociedad Española de Química; the Dalton Young Research Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Medalla de Oro of the European Young Chemist Award.

The National Research Award in the young category will be launched in Spain in 2022 with several awards named after women. In the case of Chemistry, they remember the researcher María Teresa Toral, one of the pioneers of Chemistry in Spain and part of the group led by Professor Enrique Moles, whose name also sponsored these awards.