Laura Rovira Alsina is a post-doctoral research technician at the University of Girona (UdG),
specialized in Microbial Electrochemical Technologies. She defended her doctoral thesis,
entitled "Roadmap for scaling up thermophilic CO2 bio-reduction to acetate: shedding light on
using surplus renewable energy and industrial off-gases", in December 2022. She has already
published 8 articles in indexed scientific journals, given 12 oral presentations at international
conferences and carried out a 6-month research stay in Germany.
Laura graduated with honors at UdG in 2016. Within the scientific degree, she conducted
an internship at the "Consorci de l'Alta Garrotxa" granted by Santander CRUE-CEPYME to
undertake fieldwork, sustainability and prevention reports, cartography and management of
integrated environmental systems. She followed up with a collaboration scholarship funded
by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports with the Environmental Sciences department
of the UdG to perform the final degree project (with honors) dedicated to the study of the
hydrochemical and isotopic evolution of a coastal lagoon in the Costa Brava. Subsequently,
she collaborated with the "Open UdG project" within the Chemical Engineering department
to develop an online thematic platform for teaching. The Master's thesis, recognized with
honors, was conducted through a Transfer and Innovation grant in the Laboratory of Chemical
and Environmental Engineering (LEQUIA) and in cooperation with the R&D department of a
multinational business organization, FCC Aqualia. Then, she enrolled in the Ph.D. program in
Water Science and Technology developing her research activity in LEQUIA and funded by the
FI grant for novice research staff (AGAUR, UE) from 2018 until 2021 and then as a specialized
technician receiving co-funding from the European Commission and AGAUR.
Her main research topic was to take profit of renewable resources and the residual
heat from industrial combustion processes to decrease the energy requirements of
bioelectrochemical systems and to achieve the design, start-up and operation of the
first bench-scale system for the thermophilic CO2 bio-reduction to acetate with real
substrates. During the Ph.D. she spent a research period abroad (from January to
June 2021) at the Geo and Environmental Research Center of the University of
Tübingen, Germany, in the Environmental Biotechnology group under the supervision
of Prof. Lars Angenent. This research stay was awarded by the Green Talents
Competition (BMBF) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
to promote international exchange of innovative green ideas (https://www.greentalents.de/
experiences-as-a-2020-green-talent-by-laura-rovira-alsina.php). On December 2nd 2022,
she obtained the Ph.D. title with the cum laude mention and two related publications
in Retema (https://www.retema.es/actualidad/lequia-acerca-la-electro-bioconversion-del-co2-
al-mercado) and UdG website (https://www.udg.edu/ca/udg/detall-noticies/eventid/24404?_ga).
Currently, she is still working as a research technician at LEQUIA on improving
the sustainability for scaling up bio-electrochemical systems and transitioning to a more
environmentally friendly future.
The scientific productivity of this pre-doctoral work is reflected by 8 peer-reviewed scientific
articles in the field, of which 6 as the first author. Her h-index is 5, the total number of
citations is 165 and the research interest score is 103. All the scientific journals where she
has published are in Q1, and have impact factors ranging from 6 to 12. The last published
paper (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128161) was selected as the best paper figure
on the cover page of the Bioresource Technology journal. She also contributed to two published
book chapters in Frontiers in Water-Energy-Nexus. As for participation in conferences, she
has chaired 1 session, given 12 oral presentations and 2 poster exhibitions at international
conferences, one of which received an award. Participation in projects is also noticeable.
Laura has worked as a researcher in R&D projects funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya
("Electron4Protein" and "RITA", Department of business and knowledge), the Spanish Ministry
of Economy ("COOMET", Retos I+D+I), the European Commission ("BioRECO2VER", H2020
Horizon) and by collaboration projects between the UdG and FCC Aqualia ("BECOME", Smart
Green Gas project; CDTI) and China ("ELECTRA", UE Industrial Leadership; PM and UDREDG Research and Innovation; RTD).
Laura has also conducted supervision and dissemination activities. She supervised 6
undergraduate students during their bachelor's and master thesis experimental research as
co-advisor. She helped in teaching activities and practices at the University of Girona and
she has participated in outreach activities organized by different universities for the European
Researcher's Night.