Dr. Arantxa Aguirre Sierra

Degree in Environmental Sciences at the University of Alcalá, graduated with honors. Master's Degree in Hydrology and Water Resources Management from the University of Alcalá and the University Rey Juan Carlos. Her project was titled "Effects of fluoride on the behavior of the native crab and its potential use as a bioindicator" (Director: Prof. Julio Camargo Benjumeda).

For five years she worked at the University of Alcalá in the Bioelectrogenesis research group, focusing her work on the application of microbial electrochemical technologies in constructed wetlands for the treatment of wastewater in small populations. She defended her doctoral thesis (cum laude and international mention) in September 2017, under the direction of Professor Abraham Esteve Núñez and Dr. Juan José Salas of the Foundation Center for New Water Technologies (CENTA). It was entitled "Integrating Microbial Electrochemical Technologies in Constructed Wetlands, a new Paradigm for Treating Wastewater in Small Communities". During her doctorate she made a research stay in the Biosciences Department of Aarhus University (Denmark), collaborating with doctors Carlos A. Arias and Brian Sorrell, as well as long stays at the CENTA Foundation, where she carried out a large part of her research, linked to projects of public-private partnership as Aquaelectra and Smart Wetland.

During 2018, she worked for IMDEA Agua as a postdoctoral researcher in collaboration with the group Bioelectrogenesis of Dr. Abraham Esteve Núñez, in the researh line of wastewater treatment by microbial electrogenesis. Specifically, she works within the framework of the project iMETland, funded by the European Research and Innovation Program HORIZON 2020. This project investigates the application of the technology in bioelectrogenic wetlands (METlands) for the treatment of wastewater in small populations.