The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participated, during the afternoon of September 5th, in the awarding of the qualifications Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu, offered by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) via the National Agency for Research (AEI) to centres and research units of excellence in our country. For the IAC this qualification refers to the period 2020-2024, and was received by the outgoing Director, Rafael Rebolo, who was accompanied by the Director Valentín Martínez Pillet and by the project manager Dahimar Sánchez.