Talent4Iberia — Research Supervisors
Career development of international talents of the energy research fields in the Iberian Peninsula
The supervision will work in accordance with the European Charter for Researcher and the Code of Conduct. The Talent4Iberia programme already involves a number of senior supervisors from the three HI (Fundecyt-CIIAE, UEX, CICYTEX), well experienced in research supervision of students of doctoral degrees. The supervisors already committed to Talent4Iberia have extensive international interactions, many are currently or have previously worked under MSCA and EU framework funding. Their academic research is of high quality as demonstrated by publishing in high impact journals leading the scientific community in their particular field that can be observed through high H-index.
He is in charge of managing projects and relationships with companies, merging the growth of the institution with the needs of the European energetic independency. He has lead projects for hydrometallurgical recovery of elements from alkaline and lithium batteries and the digitalization of New Circular Economy Business Models, therefore, has an extensive experience on supervising students, pre and post-doctoral researchers. In fact, during his stay at the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) and Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal), he was managing the work of pre and post-doctoral researchers together with the foreign visitors to the institutions (Mexico, Brazil…). In this sense, he has been member of Thesis panels in Spain and for some Universities in South America. In addition, during his last stay, he has been supervising students of Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) in their field work before obtaining their degrees (BSc, BEng and Master).
She holds degrees in Chemical Engineer and PhD in Engineering Materials at the National Technological University (La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina). She has made international stays in Córdoba (Spain, 2013), Turin (Italy, 2018) and Brno (Czech Republic, 2019-2020) researching on active materials for cathode and anode electrodes of Li-ion technologies, particularly in transition metal oxids, Li, carbon and additives. Therefore, she acquired a strong background on synthesis and characterization of inorganic materials, and in electrochemical techniques. She has been involved in many national projects in materials Li-ion and post ion-Li (S/Li) applications, preparing, testing and optimizing electrode materials and various electrolytes. She was Assistant Professor at National Technological University (Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Argentina). She is currently supervisor of three Ph.D. thesis project in Argentina. Her research activities are focused on design, synthesis and characterization of highly efficient cathode and anode materials for Li-ion batteries. She is author of above 15 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and over 20 communications at international conferences on materials, Li-ion and Li-S systems.
Her research focused in the synthesis and characterization on new materials based on non-toxic and abundant element for Na-ion batteries in order to improve their electrochemical performance. Dra PSC is a Chemist from the university Complutense of Madrid (2005-2010) with a Master (2010-2012) Erasmus Mundus in Characterization techniques. In 2016 she completed her doctoral studies in St Andrews university (Scotland, UK), where she works in the synthesis of new heterocycles and solid-state NMR studies. Between 2017-2019, she did two-years Postdoc position in the institute of condensed Matter Chemistry of Bordeaux (ICMCB) working in Na-ion batteries, in a European Project NAIADES (horizon 2020) and a RS2E postdoc Network working on Prussian Blue Analogues (PBA) as positive electrodes for Na and K batteries. PSC has great expertise in the area with more than 30 publications (h-index 17), in High impact journals such as JACS, Chem. Mater, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces or Inorg. Chem and has participated in more than 20 international conferences.
His main areas of Research are nanomaterials, Energy storage devices, supercapacitors, functional textiles, and coatings, solar cells. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Material Science Department FCT School of Material Science and Technology. Earlier, he completed his Ph.D. from Politecnico di Torino Italy, in Material science and Technology and also worked as a research associate in the same university. His research is focused on functional nanomaterial, composite nanomaterial, and surface modification of nanomaterials of textile substrates for sensing and flexible energy storage devices. He works on various nanomaterials including Electrospun Fibers, Metal/Metal Oxids, Carbon Based Nanomaterials, Polymeric Materials (in-situ polymerization for functionalization of substrates), and composites (transition metal oxids and carbon materials). He has published 9 research papers in high-impact factor international journals. He has also received two research awards from Politecnico di Torino Italy.
He is a visiting researcher at MIT in the scope of the project MIT-Portugal on a project; “Modernizing Photovoltaic textiles for Scalability and Wearable Applications”.
In September 2023, Dr. Perez-Alonso transitioned to the role of Senior Researcher at the Iberian Centre for Energy Storage Research (CIIAE). He is leading metal-air battery research, specifically focusing on the development of Zn-air and Na-air batteries and all related materials (anodes, electrolytes, and air electrodes).
He boasts an extensive career with over 22 years of experience in academia, industry, and high school teaching. His scientific output comprises 47 articles with over 4200 citations (h-index = 32). He also possesses extensive experience in R&D management and providing consulting services related to renewable energies and energy storage projects. His interests are centered around chemical technology, specifically on developing new materials for batteries and the production of green hydrogen for use in fuel cells. Francisco J. Pérez Alonso received his PhD degree in Chemistry at the Institute of Catalysis and Petroleochemistry of the National Spanish Research Council (ICP-CSIC) – Autonoma University of Madrid (Spain). His thesis work dealt with the study of the addition of cerium to iron catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS).
In 2008, he gained a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education to work at the Center of Individual Nanoparticle Functionality (CINF) at the Technical University of Denmark. His research activities aimed to develop advanced structured materials based on platinum for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the most critical reaction within Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEFMCs). In August 2011, Dr. Pérez-Alonso returned to the Laboratory of Electrocatalysis at the ICP, where he was the scientist responsible for opening a novel line of research for the development of Non-Precious Metal Catalysts for the ORR.
Since 2016, he worked for several start-ups (Albufera Energy Storage and Gnanomat) for the development of advanced materials for their application in energy storage devices (batteries, supercaps, electrolyzers and hydrogen fuel cells). In addition, he carried out consulting services related to energy storage technologies, green hydrogen and R&D management.
In summary, Dr. Pérez-Alonso has had a solid scientific career. During his stays in different research labs, he has become a scientist capable of leading research activities, including designing experiments, tutoring PhD students and applying for and supervising the advancement of research projects.
Recently joined the CIIAE (Iberian Energy Storage Center) as a Senior Researcher in Flow batteries. Previously, she was at ICMAB-CSIC as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie researcher (March 2022) dealing with the research of alternative electrolytes for Redox Flow battery. Additionally, she held several positions at various national/international institutions (Aalto University, Catalonian Institute for Energy Research -IREC-, LEITAT), compiling over 15 years (3,6-years abroad with 1-year maternity leave) of experience in flow electrochemical reactors since obtaining her PhD (January 2008). Along her scientific career, CF has participated in more than 40 projects, among industrial, national and European Projects. This experience allowed her the creation of cutting-edge knowledge in the energy storage and conversion fields, publishing more than 61 articles in peer-reviewed JCR articles, 1 international patent, 2 special issues and 2 book chapters. Overall, she has received more than 4,215 citations (˃670 in 2023, 69 citations/article) and achieving an h-index of 33.
The dissemination of the results has been made through the participation as a regular speaker in national and international meetings (60 times, over 16 invited talk). As a proof of her leadership skills at global scale, she acted as main organizer in the Symposium J in EMRS 2022 spring meeting. Herein, she liaised and lead with the scientific and industrial experts in the field as chairwoman. At international level, she has stablished productive collaborations around the world (e.g. Prof. A.B. Sobrido; Prof. Y. Gogotsi, Prof. J. Gardeniers, and Prof. P. Leung). She was awarded by EDP OPEN INNOVATION call for business plan development (October 2016) and FUNDACIÓN RAMÓN ARECES for project “Free-metal redox flow batteries”. She has supervised 2 PhD theses, both of them working in supercapacitors and RFB, and has tutored a Juan de la Cierva post-doc (FJCI-2014-22214), an electrochemical technician under the Spanish program (PEJ-2014-A-06729), two invited PhD students and more than 10 students. CF serves a project referee for National Science Centre (Poland), Agencial Estatal de Investigación (Spain) and Czech Science Foundation. Actually, she participated as a committee member in evaluation of the call (TED-2021). She has teaching experience (5 h) in the International Master Degree Energy Engineering within the program “Kic Innoenergy” and (3h) Nanoscience Master Degree from University of Barcelona, (Spain), (1h) Teaching in Kulosaaren School (Helsinki, Finland) Secondary School and (20h) teaching practical laboratory class in her Ph.D.
His active research lines are integration of renewable energies, distributed generation, smart grids and electric vehicles. He is author of more than 200 contributions listed in the main databases. He is author of 9 book chapters included in two books published by SPRINGER and WILEY. He has delivered invited lectures in international conferences, tutorials in International Doctoral Schools. He has been member of 100 scientific committees, approximately 80 international and 20 national conferences. He is author of more than 75 conference contributions. He is the project coordinator of the European Project SMARTGYsum “Smart and Green Energy Systems and Business Models” (an MSCA ETN with grant agreement no. 955614). He has been the main researcher of 5 national research projects, and more than 30 collaboration contracts with companies. He has supervised 6 international research stays for his Ph.D. students, in Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinn, Estonia), University of Aalborg (Aalborg, Denmark) or McMaster University (Ontario, Canada). Participation as international expert in A3ES (Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, Portugal) External Teams for evaluating Higher Education studies. He has participated as an expert in internationals professor recruitment processes.
Currently, her work is focused on integration of electric vehicles on the grid, energy storage, energy management systems, etc. She has participated in more than 20 research international, national and regional projects, two of them as Main Researcher. She contributes to the coordination of the ETN-955614 (MSCA-ITN-2020) entitled “Research and Training Network for Smart and Green Energy Systems and Business Models” (SMARTGYsum). She has also participated in more than 40 collaboration contracts with companies and in national networks about power quality and distributed generation. She is co-author of more than 25 papers in journals included in JCR, 12 of them in quartiles Q1/Q2 and more than 60 conference communications presented in both national and international conferences. She has also co-authored 7 books and 8 book chapters with national and international publishers. She has participated in the organization of five national and international research conference and she has been member of more than 10 scientific committees. She has evaluated projects for ANEP (Spanish National Agency for Project Evaluation) and she is R+D project evaluator for EQA (European Quality Assurance), one of the main projects certification company. She also acts as a reviewer of several research journals and conferences, like IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Applied Energy (Elsevier), Energies, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and many more. She is co-founder of SENERGY P&S “Smart Energy Products and Services”, Spin-off Company of the University of Extremadura. She has co-supervised three PhD thesis, all of them awarded by UEX within technical field and one of them with international mention. She is currently co-supervising a PhD student within the SMARTGYsum project.
She received the M.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Extremadura (UEX) in 1997, and the Ph.D. from the UEX in 2005. In November 1998 she joined the School of Industrial Engineering as an Assistant Professor. Since 2018 she is Full Professor in the Electrical, Electronic and Automation Engineering Department and is member of the Power Electrical & Electronic Systems R&D&i Group (http://peandes.unex.es). She has participated as Principal Investigator (PI) in 1 INTERNATIONAL PCI project AP/036934/11 “Spanish-Cuban cooperation on knowledge transfer in distributed generation with solar PV plants”, funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Currently, she collaborates in SMARTGYsum project. She has also participated in 10 National projects, being PI in two of them, and she collaborated in 14 REGIONAL projects, being PI in one of them. She has participated in 6 research projects funded by the UEX. She has cooperated in more than 40 research contracts with regional and national companies and has participated as technical expert in legal processes regarding possible patent infractions. She is author of more than 50 papers in indexed publications collected in the JCR or SCR and has more than 70 contributions in international and national conferences, 1 of them as keynote speaker. She has co-authored 1 book and 9 book chapters in international research books published by Springer and IET. She has participated in the organization of 17 conferences (9 international and 8 national). She is member of the Technical Committee AEN / CTN 206 / SC 114: Ocean Energy - Converters for waves and current energies – AENOR. At international level, she has participated in the COST Action MP1004 Hybrid Energy Storage Devices and Systems and COST Action TD1406 Intelligent Management of Heritage Buildings. She was European Project Evaluator of the FP7 Programme of the European Commission. She is regular reviewer of several prestigious international journals collected in the JCR and international IEEE conferences. She has supervised 3 Doctoral Thesis and 1 Thesis and has directed more than 40 Degree and Master Final Projects. She is co-founder of “Smart Energy Products and Services”, Spin-off company of the UEX.
His research focuses on the integration of renewable energy with energy storage and hydrogen at various levels, e.g., technologies, energy systems and policies. His work is interdisciplinary incorporating technical, economic, environmental, and social dimensions, with the latter now being expanded. In recent years, David Parra has led and coordinated several national and international projects for over 1.5 million euros, addressing the topic of energy storage and hydrogen. In this role, he has supervised one post-doc, 7 Ph.D. students and 12 master students. He has published 47 scientific papers in high-impact peer-reviewed journals (with 15 papers as first author and 14 papers as last author), such as Nature Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, and Environmental Science & Technology. He has also given multiple presentations at international conferences and congresses, many of them as keynote speaker.
His research experience ranges from fundamental electrocatalysis, spectroelectrochemistry studies for electrocatalysis as well as the use of couple technique for energy and analytical applications. Recently, he has directed his research towards the development of electrodes for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) and nitrate reduction to ammonia (NRA), with emphasis in the study of the reaction at a fundamental level to understand the origin of the catalyst activity using in-situ and operando techniques. After his PhD, he spent some years as a senior researcher at the University of Burgos (Spain), the University of Alcala (Spain) and at Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic). Throughout these years he has received a “Juan de la Cierva” grant, a “Maria Zambrano” fellowship as well as a MSCA individual fellowship before joining CIIAE. He has co-supervised several Master’s students and is now co-supervising 2 PhD students in the field of spectroelectrochemistry applied to electrocatalytic systems. He is also author of 34 publications in high impact journals (7 as corresponding author), such as Journal of The American Chemial Society, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, ACS catalysis, Journal of Material Chemistry A, Nature Review Methods Primers, among other. He has also given several presentations at international conferences and congresses and one of them as a keynote speaker.
She holds a Chemical Engineer degree obtained at the National University of Salta - Argentina and PhD in Science and Technology, Chemistry orientation with an academic degree obtained at the National University of San Martín (UNSAM) in Buenos Aires – Argentina. She has made international stays in Mexico (2008), Czech Republic (2013-2014), Spain (2016) researching on hydrogen technologies: direct methanol fuel cells, hydrogen fuel cells and electrolysis. She has extensive research experience working with ion exchange membranes (anionic and cationic) and electrocatalysis for water electrolysis systems and fuel cells. In 2022 she operates a 16 kW PEM electrolyzer at pilot plant scale. At Europe level she led 3 private industrial R&D projects, 2 international collaborative projects, 4 Spanish industry assessment works. She has participated with other authors in 12 papers, 1 granted patent (INPI-ARG: 180.100-013 / 2018 "Preparation method of polymeric proton exchange membrane”), and over 20 communications at international conferences. She is currently co-supervisor of a PhD thesis project in collaboration with a professor in Argentina and co-supervised a TFM at UVigo recently.
He studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Carabobo (UC, 2008) and holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Design from the Rovira and Virgili University (URV, 2012) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Science and Technology from the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ, 2017). The latter under the supervision of Prof. Nuria Lopez. Since then, he has worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher, Group Scientific Coordinator, and Staff Scientist at ICIQ and Utrecht University (UU). He has worked with Tier-0 high-performance computers, such as BSC-Mare Nostrum 3 and 4, since 2013. Dr. García-Muelas has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles, most of them in close collaboration with experimentalists. These publications have drawn more than 2000 citations. His research has focused on heterogeneous thermal and electrocatalysis, particularly on complex reaction networks, solvation at interfaces, and reconstructing materials. He currently supervises 2 PhD candidates and provids guidance to a postdoctoral researcher.
He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Thapar University (now Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology), India. Dr. Rather possesses rich and far-reaching research expertise in the design, development, synthesis, and characterization of a wid range of advanced photoactive nanomaterials for application in photocatalysis. His research endeavours have been further enriched by extensive postdoctoral experiences at esteemed institutions across the globe, including working in the multidisciplinary research group at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen University, China. In addition, his work experience at Auburn University, United States, and San Diego State University, United States, has further enriched his skills and mechanistic understanding of the processes involved in photocatalysis. Dr. Rather has been involved in several cutting-edge projects on renewable hydrogen production, CO2 photoreduction, H2O2 production, and solid-state or adsorptive photodegradation of recalcitrant PFAS, complemented by his rich contribution via publications in reputed journals and dissemination of research results in international conferences. Dr. Rather is poised to continue his impactful research in multidisciplinary areas of Chemistry, Materials, Chemical Engineering, and Environmental Engineering for sustainable hydrogen energy and environmental solutions.
His research focuses on the rational design and sustainable synthesis of multifunctional nanomaterials for the production of fuels and chemicals. Applications are directed towards the single-step conversion of carbon dioxid into synthetic fuels and chemicals such as sustainable aviation fuel and methanol, and the improvement of current industrial chemical processes such as ammonia synthesis. He was trained as a Chemical Engineer (University of Extremadura, Spain) and did the PhD in Chemistry at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry of the National Spanish Research Council (ICP-CSIC) – Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) between 2008-2012. He has developed his postdoctoral career within the industry, working as scientist at Sasol UK (2012-2017), and as process scientist at Drochaid Research Services Ltd (UK contract R&D, 2018-2022), where he was involved in multiple projects aimed at supporting different companies to develop new catalytic processes and supervised industrial collaborations with the academia.
He has participated in multiple research projects (national, international and private contract with industry), published more than 20 scientific papers and shared scientific results in international conferences. He is member of the Spanish Society of Catalysis (Secat) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), having been awarded the Chartered Chemist (RSC) distinction since 2018.
He is leading the hydrogen storage and transport group within the Hydrogen and Power-to-X department. At CIIAE, the aim is to study advances materials used in alternative methods to store hydrogen different to traditional procedures including materials for solid-state storage (metal hydrids and porous solids) and liquid storage (synthesis and dehydrogenation of methanol, ammonia, and organic liquid carriers LOHCs). During his Ph.D. and postdoc, he has participated in six research projects, published 16 scientific papers in different scientific journals, and shared scientific results in 17 international conferences in the fields of materials science, energy and technology and chemical engineering. Dr. Villajos has also supervised three post-graduate students for their end-of-degree projects, three ERASMUS students and is supervising a Ph.D.
She has experience in the adsorption of CO2, mainly in polymeric matrices and the load and modification of polymers to achieve higher capacities and functionalities. The research line at CIIAE initially focused on developing solid porous materials based on better kinetics, less susceptibility to losing volatiles into the atmosphere, and lower heating requirements from evaporating the liquid. Her scientific career has also been linked to the industrial sector, in which she achieved and managed funding from different competitive programs, with a total budget of about 2 M€, and obtained 2 patents. She is the author of 21 scientific publications and 2 book chapters and has participated in more than 40 national and international conferences. She has supervised 1 PhD student and 5 master's students.
Her main research activities have been dedicated to the development and characterization of ceramic materials for energy conversion and storage (SOEC, SOFC, co-SOEC, r-SOC and PCCEL), thermoelectric applications, membrane-based technologies and all-solid-state batteries (ASSB). She holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering (speciality in Materials Science) and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University Carlos III of Madrid (ES). She was formerly a visiting researcher at the University of Sheffield (UK), a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Aveiro (PT), a scientific researcher and EU project leader at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (DE), and a Marie Curie Fellow within the Energy for Future Programme (E4F) co-funded by Iberdrola. She has co-authored 24 research papers in SCI journals and other peer-reviewed journals, over 30 communications at international conferences (some of them as invited or keynote speaker), and participates in more than 10 R&D projects. She has co-supervised multiple semester projects and thesis for undergraduate students, 2 concluded MSc, and 2 Ph.D. (1 ongoing). She has also participated in 3 MSc and 1 Ph.D. theses juries and contributed to educational processes as an academic staff (including more than 600 hours in materials and engineering disciplines).
His research encompasses the regulation of fast-evolving energy technologies (e.g., batteries, microgrids, electric vehicles charging points) and their end-uses in order to propose improvements, entailing a strong appetite for interdisciplinary research. To ensure that the specific, technology-based research fits within the bigger picture, Dr. Mauger’s research also integrates the notions of energy justice, just transition and degrowth. In his career, Dr. Mauger supervised over 30 LLM students’ theses, 3 research assistants and providd guidance to a postdoctoral researcher. He will soon start supervising 2 PhD candidates. He published over 30 academic works, encompassing articles in internationally recognized journals, chapters in books edited by well-known publishers in the field, and reports written as part of different projects and destined to institutions such as the European Commission. Dr. Mauger holds a PhD in Law from the University of Montpellier (FR) and 5 years of postdoctoral experience at the University of Groningen (NL). He fluently speaks French, English and Spanish.
Ph.D. Laín has led the research group "Modelling, Analysis, and Simulation of Environmental and Industrial Processes, PAI+," which has a reference group in the Colombian research system.
His work has been featured in leading journals within the fields of Multiphase Flows and Renewable Energies, where he has also contributed as a reviewer. He has around 70 articles published in JCR-indexed journals, many of which resid in the Q1-Q2 quartiles. Additionally, he has co-supervised 4 completed doctoral theses and 15 master's theses. Several of his master's students have furthered their studies to earn doctoral degrees at various universities in Europe and the USA. Dr. Laín has established a robust research network involving research groups in Colombia, Germany, Spain, and Canada. Among different recognitions, he was awarded the 2021 CVET Most Cited Article Award for the most referenced article in Cardiovascular Engineering Technologies, a distinction jointly conferred by the US Biomedical Engineering Society and Springer Nature.
His scientific career has been focused on the development of materials with functional properties (dielectric, magnetic, thermoelectric materials) and on finding the relationship between the crystalline structure of said materials and their properties. He has more than 10 years of experience in materials science and development. He holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry (University of A Coruña) and has previously worked for the University College London (joint project with Etex Group), the University of Bergen and EnSol AS (Norwegian SME) among others. He has been involved and managed several research projects in regional, national and international programs. He has more than 500 hours of synchrotron experience, being the IP in two granted proposals. He has coordinated two research projects funded by the Research Council of Norway.
Ricardo holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical engineering and a M.Sc. in Thermodynamics, both from the Universidade de Lisboa, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the Universidad de Almería/CIEMAT. Ricardo’s previous experience includes applied research work at Itecons/Universidade de Coimbra and at Empa/ETH Zürich in Switzerland, and he is interested in the following fields: Energy Storage, Power2Heat, Thermochemical Energy Storage, Heating and Cooling Pumps, Phase Change Materials, Molten Salts, Sorption, Multiphysics, Multiphase Flow, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Design Optimization. He has +15 years of experience in Applied Research in centers across Europe, and 16 publications, 8 projects, and granted 1 patent in the topics of Energy.
His scientific interest lies in the field of storing and transforming thermal energy by means of chemical reactions. He has more than 10 years of experience in material science, focusing on research ranging from atomic to millimeter-sized particle levels. He holds a Ph.D. from Institute of Catalysis SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia) and previously worked at Eindhoven University of Technology, German Aerospace Center, and Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is a Marie Curie fellow and took part in several projects dedicated to material design for thermochemical energy storage - a relatively new field focused on development of thermochemical batteries which can efficiently store and release thermal energy.
A potential project hosted by Ph.D. Shkatulov may be dedicated to development of new generation of thermochemical materials that meet the criteria of low- or medium-temperature applications and investigating their properties by a series of state-of-the-art techniques of thermal and structural analysis.
Claudia holds a degree in Chemical Technology by the Technological University of Pereira (Colombia), a B.Sc. in chemistry, a master in fundamental & environmental chemistry, and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry, by the University of A Coruña (Spain).
Claudia has more than 14 years of experience in research centers and industry. Her research career has been focused in the search for solid crystalline materials with functional properties for the storage of electric & magnetic charges, or heat. She performed a 6-month research stay in Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA), led a research project in a SME in Norway (EnSol AS), worked in the Quality Control department of a biopharmaceutical company (mAbXience) and received a postdoctoral MSCA fellowship.
At CIIAE, she is focused in the study of crystalline materials showing solid-to-solid phase change transitions with high enthalpy values for thermal energy storage and thermal management applications.
He holds a university degree in Industrial Engineering with speciality in Energy Technologies (Carlos III University of Madrid) and a Ph.D. in the area of Chemical and Energy Technologies (University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid). His multidisciplinary professional career includes experiences as an engineer and researcher in industries (Tetra Pak, Inventa and Gamesa), and in R&D Centers: ORLEN-UniCre (CZ), University of Liverpool (UK), University of Porto (PT) and CIRCE -Technology Center (ES). He has taken specific advanced training courses in: Hydrogen Economics, Use of Agricultural Waste and Green Chemistry. His main scientific fields of interest include: Renewable Energies, Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass, Heterogeneous Catalysis and Thermochemical Materials for Thermal Energy Storage systems. He has broad experience participating in the preparation and management of R&D projects under H2020, EPSRC, FCT, and Horizon Europe programs.
Ph.D. Díez Sierra holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Universidad de Murcia (ES), a dual European Master’s degree in Material Science from Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (ES) and Universität des Saarlandes (DE) and a Marie-curie PhD in Physics from Universiteit Gent (BE). His scientific journey has included research positions at various institutions such as the Leibniz Institut für Neuen Materialien (DE), BASF SE (DE), Deutsche Nanoschicht (DE), the GmbH (DE), University of Turku (FI) and Tekniker (ES). His multidisciplinary scientific career covers areas such as thin films, nanoparticle synthesis, superconductors, PEM electrolyzers and supercapacitors. His main current scientific fields of interest include Nanofluids, Nanoparticle Synthesis, Phase-Change Materials and Thermal Energy Storage.
Ph.D. Yanio Enrique Milián Rodríguez He has previously worked in a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the prestigious Universidad Católica del Norte in Chile on emergent technologies for lithium-ion battery recycling. He has extensive experience in sol-gel synthesis, inorganic phase-change materials, shape-stabilized phase change materials (SS-PCMs), silica-based Janus nanoparticles, and material characterization techniques. He is a highly distinguished alumnus who has completed his studies at two reputable, world-class universities: the Universidad de Antofagasta in Chile and the Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences at the Universidad de La Habana in Cuba. He holds a Doctorate in Mineral Processing Engineering from the former and a Bachelor's Degree in Radiochemistry from the latter.
Mauro is a Civil Metallurgical Engineer. He completed his Master's Degree in Energy, and the Doctorate in Solar Energy at the University of Antofagasta, Chile. He is an Expert in Thermal Storage with Molten Salts and Energy Efficiency. His research interests are molten salt thermal storage and industrial energy efficiency. His research interests focus on sensible heat storage for concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, Carnot batteries and energy for heating. These include the Characterization of thermophysical properties of materials for thermal storage; Failure analysis for storage tanks with high temperature molten salts; Power to Heat (PtH) project from excess renewable energy; Applied research in pilot plants of thermal storage system with molten salts. He has more than 20 years of experience between industrial processes and applied research. He has directed 2 projects, more than 10 publications, applied for 2 patents, and has been a tutor for more than 10 undergraduate and graduate students.
He has worked in the field of thermochemical conversion processes of biomass (pyrolysis, gasification, combustion, drying) for energy purposes, as well as the preparation of activated carbons by physical activation and their regeneration. Moreover, he has experience on the characterization of precursors and the phases generated in these processes (char, tars and gas) as well as on the study of their applications. During the last years he has worked on HTC processes focusing on the use of the hydrocar as an energy fuel. He has also worked on the preparation and characterization of biofuels, biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas generation from materials with high organic material content. The developed research has been framed in different projects and research contracts with private companies. He has been a principal investigator in 13 international, national and regional founded projects and has directed research for more than 40 private companies.
She obtained a Degree in Applied Chemistry (University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom, 2001) and a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering (2003), as well as a Ph.D. (2009) from the University of Extremadura (UEX). She has worked on research projects related to biomass utilisation in Germany, Portugal, the United States, Argentina, England and the United Kingdom. She has managed several research projects in regional, national and international programs. she is fully committed with the promotion of women research career participating in many scientific culture initiatives in this sense. Silvia’s experience as an evaluator has been confined especially to the evaluation of research projects in the State Research Agency and in the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Argentina and Uruguay. She has also been a member of national and international Doctoral Thesis committees (Portugal and Italy) on 11 occasions. She has been part of evaluation committees for Researcher positions at UEX on a regular basis in the last 5 years (an average of 3-5 per year).
He has more than 150 scientific publications, has supervised 8 Doctoral Theses, supervised several scholarships and pre- and postdoctoral contracts and has participated in several research projects in the field. international. He has been responsible for more than 60 projects in collaboration with technology companies and his lines of research focus on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Hospital Engineering, Renewable Energies and Project Management. He has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, a Master's Degree in Renewable Energy, an MBA from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a Diploma in the Higher Management Program at the IESE (University of Pamplona) and, in addition, he has won the Excellence in Transfer of Research Results Award. He has experience in both the private and public sectors, having held highly responsible technical positions in the engineering field. He is currently a member of the National Technical Committee of the Spanish Technical Association for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ATECYR) and the Spanish Association of Project Management and Engineering (AEIPRO). His lines of work correspond to those related to the three research projects that he is currently developing as Principal Investigator, related to the accumulation of energy in its various facets. These are the RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HOT-COLD THERMAL STORAGE SYSTEMS FOR RESidNTIAL USE (TERMALIT) projects, the ADVANCING INNOVATIONS IN MOLTEN SALT (ADVIAMOS) project and the CROSS-BORDER ENERGY COMMUNITY IN EUROACE (TRANSCOM) project.
He is member of the Institute of Green Economy IUEVE. Marie Curie OIF Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2005-2006) and visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego (2016-2017). Prof. Miranda is author of +70 articles (+3000 citations, +40 citations/paper, h-index 32; source: Scopus) and more than 90 contributions to national and international scientific meetings. He has participated in 17 research projects (11 as principal investigator, PI), including 3 EU-funded international projects. He has supervised 7 Ph.D. Theses, 13 Master Theses and 36 B.Sc. Final Projects, as well as the work of 3 postdocs. Expert in additive manufacturing (3D printing) of ceramics and ceramic-based composites, mechanical characterization and numerical simulation by FEM.
Relevant research topic: Development of materials and solutions for thermal energy storage (solar receivers and phase change materials). Currently leading 1 EU project on this topic, with 2 more submitted EU proposals under evaluation
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Ph.D. Miranda García-Cueva’s main research line has been focused on the idntification of alternative uses for agricultural biomass, which presents the greatest problems for its revalorization. With over more than 50 publications published, including 34 articles indexed in JCR (20 of them in Q1), 5 with SJR index, a total of 990 citations in Scopus (H 17) and an average of more than 110 citations per year in the last 5 years, Ph.D. Miranda García-Cueva has participated in 38 Research Grants and Projects, 7 of which were funded by the European Union, and has been appointed as principal investigator in 17 of them.
Since 2014, Ph.D. Miranda García-Cueva is the principal investigator of the Energy Research Group in the Area of Thermal Machines and Motors of the UEx (ENERMYT), even thou she has been a member since its creation in 2006. The group currently has 11 members, 7 PhD researchers and 4 researchers in training.
Finally, Ph.D. Miranda García-Cuevas has supervised a total of 12 Doctoral Thesis since 2011, with 6 more being currently supervised.
With a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from University of Extremadura, Ph.D. José Ignacio Arranz Barriga focuses his activity on the field of renewable energies, specifically in research on densified solid biofuels. In addition, he actively participates in research projects involving all renewable energies. He complements his research activity with teaching at the School of Industrial Engineering of Badajoz and the Polytechnic Institute of Beja (Portugal) giving sessions in many areas, such as biomass energy, energy efficiency, solar thermal and thermoelectric, mini-hydraulics or health and safety at work.
Apart from his teaching experience, he holds publication of numerous scientific and technical publications, including 28 papers indexed in JCR, of which 18 are in the first quartile of the JCR, with a total of 745 citations and an index h=14 (Scopus), and has participated in 25 research projects and grants for research groups, as well as 24 contracts related to renewable energies and energy efficiency. Applied research has been developed with a high degree of transfer to the productive sector, as evidnced by the technological development projects carried out and the research and transfer contracts for companies and organizations. He collaborates permanently with companies and institutions in the renewable energy sector (ENCE, SAMCA, AGENEX, Mercado Biomasa, etc.) and the agro-industrial sector (CONESA, Ballut Cervecera Artesana SL, Troil Vegas Altas SC, etc.).
Attendance and participation in national and international scientific-technical congresses of relevance in the aforementioned areas of activity, with a total of 72 contributions. He has directed 42 final year projects and is currently the director of 3 doctoral thesis students.
He has co-directed 3 Doctoral Theses for researchers from the Finca La Orden-Valdesequera Agricultural Research Institute of CICYTEX. He is leading the research team on biomass and bioproducts of the Institute of Agricultural Research Finca La Orden-Valdesequera, working with solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels, biofertilizers, and bioproducts from vegetable fibers, from biomass-producing crops, and agricultural residues, ranchers, forestry and agro-industrial. He is also part of the GAIRBER Research Group (Group for the Integral Use of Biomass Waste and Renewable Energies) at UEX.
He is an Industrial Engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the Energy sector. He has been Technical Director of a DSO for more than two decades, designing, building and commissioning more than one hundred infrastructure projects (primary and distribution substations, high and low voltage overhead and underground lines), He has over thirty years of experience leading and supervising multidisciplinary technical teams in the industry, having mentored dozens of new professionals, mainly engineers, on board. In addition, he has been presidnt of the Association of Industrial Entrepreneurs of the City of Ceuta (CECe) from 2002 to 2019.