Claudia Fontas obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Girona (UdG) in 2001, and she carried out a postdoc at “Institut Europeén des Membranes” in Montpellier, France (2002). She was promoted to Associate professor in Chemistry at UdG in 2008. She performs teaching and research in the area of analytical and environmental chemistry. Her research is mainly focused on the development of new separation techniques for the monitoring and availability of toxic pollutants in the environment. She is renowned for her pioneering research on polymer inclusion membranes that has allow an in-depth understanding on the processes affecting the separation system and their application in the area of environmental analysis. Recent projects have focused on contaminants such as As, Hg, Cd, pesticides and antibiotics.
Current research focuses on the following topics:
- Novel stable PIMs for the preconcentration of metals and organic compounds.
- Use of ionic liquids and derivatives as extractants in PIMs and impregnated materials
- Design of PIM devices for speciation and availability studies of metals and oxyanions in the environment.
- Sorbent materials to be used as extracting phase in sampling devices for remote areas.
Claudia Fontas has published more than 100 refereed articles and 2 book chapters and has supervised 7 PhD thesis. She is currently co-supervising 3 PhD thesis in collaboration with the Universities of Bejaia and Tizi-Ouzou (Algeria), and 2 PhD in the UdG.
She has participated in several competitive research projects including national R & D & I projects as a team member researcher, and five as a First Chief Investigator: periods 2014-2016 , 2016-2019, 2019-2022, and the current project "Efficient assessment of environmental pollution by advanced polymer inclusion membranes", for the period 2023-2026.
She actively participates in research evaluation tasks: 2014- onwards: Evaluator for Agencia Nacional de Evaluación y Prospectiva (ANEP); 2016- onwards: Remote Evaluator for H2020 FET-OPEN NOVEL IDEAS FOR RADICALLY NEW TECHNOLOGIES Research and Innovation Actions (RIA); 2020 Panel expert " Contaminants, environnement, santé", Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR (France).
Claudia Fontas is member of the editorial board of the journal Membranes (MDPI) and the guest editor of three special issues on liquid membranes and has recently been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief for 'Membrane Preparation and Characterization' section of this journal.