which was published that November by EP Europace. Folbigg's legal team used the paper as evidence in an appeal to the Supreme Court of New South Wales, but the judges upheld Blanch's decision. Advocacy In March 2021, Vinuesa, alongside more than 100 other scientists including two Nobel prize winners, signed a petition to grant Folbigg royal prerogative of mercy based on Vinuesa's research. The petition, which Vinuesa, who has since visited Folbigg in prison, agrees with, states that to keep Folbigg imprisoned sets a dangerous precedent that "cogent medical and scientific evidence can simply be ignored in preference to subjective interpretations and circumstantial evidence." Also in March 2021, Vinuesa wrote an essay for The Conversation casting doubt on the verdict and sharing evidence her and her team had presented during the appeal. She also criticized the judicial process itself, saying that her experience discouraged her from engaging in cases in the future. She warned that if her experience is common of scientific experts, the law is risking engagement from the scientific community in legal matters. She said that scientists should be chosen who base their reasoning on "peer-reviewed scientific evidence," with specific expertise on the fields in question, and needed to be "treated as equals" to and by their legal peers during the process. She said that she hopes in the coming years that legal settings will welcome and appreciate the scientific method. Awards and recognition She was the 2008 winner of the Australian Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year and the 2009 winner of the Australian Academy of Science's Gottschalk Medal for her research uncovering the origins of autoimmune diseases. In 2022 Vinuesa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Personal life Vinuesa was born and raised in Cadiz, Spain. She has two daughters. Vinuesa says her career decisions echoed her father's, who was a community-servant lawyer. He worked in the first democratic government in Spain as a treasury inspector. As of August 2021, Vinuesa resided in the UK. External links https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/carola-vinuesa References 1960s births Alumni of the University of Birmingham Australian medical researchers Australian National University faculty Australian women academics Australian women scientists Autonomous University of Madrid alumni Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Living people Spanish emigrants to Australia Spanish medical researchers Spanish women academics Spanish women