The Direction heads the constant and immediate direction of ICRA’s activities
Damià Barcelò l Director
Research Professor (CSIC Associated)
direccio@icra.cat l Tel. (34) 972 18 33 80
- EDUCATION
1984 PhD in Chemistry. Faculty of Chemistry. University of Barcelona (Spain)
1977 Master Degree in Analytical Chemistry. Faculty of Chemistry/University of Barcelona/Spain
1975 Bachelors’ Degree in Chemistry. Faculty of Chemistry/University of Barcelona/Spain
- CURRENT POSITION(S)
1999 – to date Full Professor (permanent staff). Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA). Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain.
2008 – to date Scientific Director. Institute for Water Research (ICRA). Autonomous Government of Catalonia. Girona, Spain.
2016 – to date Full Professor Chair in Biology. College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program (DSFP).
- PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2009 – 2015 Visiting professor. College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1993 – 1999 Senior Researcher (permanent staff). Institute of Chemical and Environmental Studies (IIQAB), CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
1987 – 1993 Tenured Researcher (permanent staff). Institute of Chemical and Environmental Studies (IIQAB), CSIC, Spain
1985 – 1986 Postdoctoral fellow (NATO fellowship). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1982 – 1985 Assistant Professor. Dept. of Analytical Chemistry. Faculty of Chemistry. University of Barcelona, Spain.
1977 – 1985 Assistant professor (laboratory assistant and PhD student). Dept. of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Spain.
- FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2019 Honorary and Guest Professor at Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China
2014 Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Ioannina, Greece.
2012 Recipharm Environmental Award, Sweden
2012 Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW), 5th Award on Water Management & Protection, Saudi Arabia.
2007 Prize King Jaime I on the Protection of Nature from Generalitat of Valencia, Spain (since 1995, one of the most prestigious science awards in Spain).
- SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
1992 – to date > 57 PhD thesis supervised, mainly in Spain except two in Lisbon and in Amsterdam.
1992 – to date > 30 postdoctoral researchers supervised, mainly in Spain
- TEACHING ACTIVITIES
2005 – to date Teacher annually at the world largest conference and exhibition in Analytical chemistry, the Pittsburgh Conference (PITTCON) with an advanced short course on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for analysing emerging contaminants
2005 – 2008 Short course at the SETAC North America conference annually.
2000 – 2008 Doctorate Program of Chemical Analysis and Environment, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona (Spain)
1977 – 1985 Assistant Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona (Spain)
- ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
2005 – to date Program Chair/co-chair of the International Workshop on Liquid Chromatography-tandem mass Spectrometry for screening and trace level quantitation in environmental and food samples. Held one year in Barcelona and the next year either in US/Canada, being always the chair in Barcelona and co-chair in North America (Attendees: 150)
2015 Program Co-Chair of SETAC-Europe 25 “Annual Meeting 2015” in Barcelona, Spain. (Attendees: 2700)
2010 – to date Program chair of different sessions on fate and risk pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminates in the aquatic environment organized at both SETAC Europe and SETAC North America. (Attendees: 100)
- INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
2008 – to date Director. Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA). Autonomous Government of Catalonia. Girona, Spain.
2008 – to date Vice-director of Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA)/ Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain
2004 – 2008 Member of the Governing Board of CSIC.
1999 – 2008 Head of Environmental Chemistry Department, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
2005 – 2006 Member of the National Commission for the Evaluation of the Research Activity (CNEAI), Ministry of Education and Sciences. Spain.
- COMMISSIONS OF TRUST
2011 – 2015 Chairman of the Scientific and Technological Board (STB) of the EU-Joint Programming Initiative on “Water challenges for a changing World”
2004 – 2007 Member of the EURYI (European Young Investigator Awards) from ESF.
2004 – 2009 Member of the Scientific PPR Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
2002 – 2005 Vice-President of the Section of Science and Technology, Institut d´Estudis Catalans.
1999 – 2001 Member of the Scientific Program Groundwater Pollution (G-POLL) of the European Science Foundation.
- MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
1987 – to date Member of ACS (American Chemical Society)
1999 – to date Member of IEC (Institute of Catalan Studies)
2000 – to date Member of SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry)
2005 – to date Member of ASMS (American Society for Mass Spectrometry)
2006 – 2014 Chair of the SEEM (Spanish Society for Mass Spectrometry)
1990 – 2002 Secretary of the IAEAC “International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry” (Allschwill, Switzerland)
- MAJOR COLLABORATIONS
- Prof. Susan Richardson, University of South Carolina, USA
- Prof. John Sumpter, Brunel University London, UK
- Prof. Bryan W. Brooks, Baylor University Texas, USA
- Prof. Despo Fatta-Kassinos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
- Prof. Thomas Knepper, Hochschule Fresenius, Germany
- Prof. György Marko-Varga, Lund University, Sweden
- Prof. Werner Brack, UFZ – Leipzig, Germany
- Prof. Michael Thurman, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
- Prof. Tania Maria Pizzolato, University Río Grande do sud, Brasil
- Prof. Peter Grathwohl, University of Tübingen, Germany
- Prof. Amadeo Rodríguez Fernández-Alba, Universidad de Almería, Spain
- Prof. Xiangliang Pan, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
- Prof. Haibo Zhang, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China
Section c: Ten years’ track-record (max. 2 pages)
My scientific career has been dedicated to Environmental Chemistry with the aim to solve different environmental problems in the field of water quality. My most important contributions have been particularly in the development of methods for controlling organic pollution by the so-called “emerging pollutants” (polar pesticides, surfactants –detergents–, endocrine disruptors and pharmaceutical products, illicit drugs and carbon-based nanomaterials (fullerenes)) in waste and natural water. During the last ten years my group has obtained key results at international level that have provided valuable monitoring data for risk assessment of surface, waste waters and ground waters as well as have provided advanced results on risk and remediation studies for emerging pollutants. We are confident that these results have served as the basis for a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable aquatic environment. Since 2010 I am listed among the most internationally cited scientists (ISI Highly Cited), by the number and the exceptional quality of my publications, with a Hirsch-Index of 141 (113) and total number of citations over 92,7 thousand (> 62 k) and more than 1380 publications (source Google Scholar on the 07/10/2019, Scopus in parenthesis). I have been very active as a Scientific Editor. Since 1990s, I have been contributing editor of Trends in Analytical Chemistry (TrAC) and editor of two book series (Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry and The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry). Since 2012 I am the Co-Editor-in-chief of the Science of the Total Environment and since 2017 Editor in chief of Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health.
In the following are listed the most cited 10 papers in the last 10 years and the 10 invited plenary talks as well as recent papers relevant to this Synergy ERC application.
THE TEN MOST-CITED PUBLICATIONS FROM 2008-2018 as lead author
Radjenović, J., Petrović, M., Barceló, D. “Fate and distribution of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and sewage sludge of the conventional activated sludge (CAS) and advanced MBR treatment”. Water Research, 43(3) (2009) pp. 831-841. Cited 543 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 4.355)
Jelic, A., Gros, M., Ginebreda, A., Cespedes-Sánchez, R., Ventura, F., Petrovic, M., Barcelo, D. “Occurrence, partition and removal of pharmaceuticals in sewage water and sludge during wastewater treatment”. Water Research, 45(3) (2011), pp. 1165-1176. Cited 388 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 4.865)
Gros, M., Petrović, M., Ginebreda, A., Barceló, D. “Removal of pharmaceuticals during wastewater treatment and environmental risk assessment using hazard indexes”. Environment International, 36(1), (2010), pp. 15-26. Cited 377 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 4.691)
Farré, M.l., Pérez, S., Kantiani, L., Barceló, D. “Fate and toxicity of emerging pollutants, their metabolites and transformation products in the aquatic environment”. TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 27(11) (2008), pp. 991-1007. (review paper) Cited 303 times (IF: 4.355)
Radjenović, J., Petrović, M., Ventura, F., Barceló, D. “Rejection of pharmaceuticals in nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane drinking water treatment”. Water Research, 42(14) (2008), pp. 3601-3610. Cited 253 times (IF: 3.587)
Radjenovic, J., Petrovic, M., Barceló, D. “Analysis of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and removal using a membrane bioreactor”. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 387(4) (2008), pp. 1365-1377. Cited 240 times (IF: 3.328)
Kuster, M., López de Alda, M.J., Hernando, M.D., Petrovic, M., Martín-Alonso, J., Barceló, D. “Analysis and occurrence of pharmaceuticals, oestrogens, progestogens and polar pesticides in sewage treatment plant effluents, river water and drinking water in the Llobregat river basin (Barcelona, Spain)” Journal of Hydrology, 358(1-2) (2008), pp. 112-123. Cited 234 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 2.305)
Verlicchi, P., Galletti, A., Petrovic, M., Barceló, D. “Hospital effluents as a source of emerging pollutants: An overview of micropollutants and sustainable treatment options”. Journal of Hydrology, 389(3-4) (2010), pp. 416-428. Cited 221 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 2.514)
Gros, M., Petrović, M., Barceló, D. “Tracing pharmaceutical residues of different therapeutic classes in environmental waters by using LC/quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry and automated library searching”. Analytical Chemistry, 81(3) (2009), pp. 898-912. Cited 212 times (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 5.214)
Gros, M., Rodríguez-Mozaz, S., Barceló, D. ”Fast and comprehensive multi-residue analysis of a broad range of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and some of their metabolites in surface and treated waters by ultra-HPLC coupled to quadrupole-linear ion trap MS (2012) Journal of Chromatography A, 1248, pp. 104-121. Cited 189 times. (WoS: Highly Cited Paper) (IF: 4.612)
RECENT PUBLISHED PAPERS RELEVANT TO THIS PROJECT
Rivas, D.; Zonja, B.; Eichhorn, P.; Ginebreda, A.; Pérez, S.; Barceló, D., “Using MALDI-TOF MS imaging and LC-HRMS for the investigation of the degradation of polycaprolactone diol exposed to different wastewater treatments. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (2017),1-11.
Zonja, B., Delgado, A., Pérez, S. and Barceló, D., “LC-HRMS Suspect Screening for Detection Based Prioritization of Iodinated Contrast Media Photodegradates in Surface Waters”. Environ. Sci. Technol., 49 (2015), 3464-3472.
Zonja, B., Pérez, S. and Barceló, D., “Human Metabolite Lamotrigine-N2-glucuronide Is the Principal Source of Lamotrigine-Derived Compounds in Wastewater Treatment Plants and Surface Water”. Environ. Sci. Technol., 50 (2016), 154-164.
RECENT PUBLISHED BOOK AS COEDITOR
- Personal Care Products in the Aquatic Environment Vol 36. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Ed Silvia Diaz-Cruz and D Barceló, 2015 Springer Verlag (Germany) pages 1-419.
INVITED PLENARY LECTURES
More than 200 invited talks in the last 10 years. Some of the recent ones most relevants:
Zhejiang University of Technology, ZUT, Hangzhou, China, 2019
Emerging contaminants and Microplastics in Water Reuse and Plant Uptake.
International Symposium on Persistent Toxic Substances (ISPTS), 2016, Leipzig, Germany:
Smart Suspect Screening and Related HRMS Approaches for Detection of Pharmaceuticals and their Transformation products in Real-World Water samples
VII Congreso AMEQA (Asociacion Mesoamericana de Ecotoxicologia y Quimica Ambiental),2016, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Fate and Risk of Pesticides, Pharmaceuticals, Illicit Drugs and Personal Care Products in the Iberian River Basins of Ebro and LLobregat: Challenges and Solutions using Advanced Treatment Technologies in Europe
11th Annual Workshop on LC/MS/MS Applications in Environmental Analysis and Food Safety
2015, Burlington, Ontario, Canada:
LC-tandem MS and LC-HRMS Strategies for the Analysis of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Water, Soil and Biota Samples
16th International Symposium on Advances in Extraction Technologies-ExTech 2014 Crete, Greece:
Analysis and Fate of Emerging Organic Pollutants: PFAs, FRs, UV-filters and Fullerenes-Nanomaterials in Plastic Pellets, Fishes and Airborne Particulate from the Sea
29th Asilomar 2013 conference on Mass Spectrometry. Environmental Chemistry, Toxicology and Health, Asilomar, CA, USA:
LC tandem MS analysis, Characterisation, Fate and Risk of Fullerenes and Other Carbon-Based Nanomaterials in the Total Environment
EMCON Forum 2013, Kaohsiung, Taiwan:
Organic Compounds in Groundwater: Occurrence, Challenges and Trends
Major contributions to the early careers of excellent researchers;
57 PhD thesis supervised, most in Spain except two in Lisbon and in Amsterdam. Two are full professors at CSIC-Barcelona (S Lacorte) and at the University of Maastricht (M Honing), the Netherlands. one is Associate Professor in Montpelier (S Chiron); one got an ERC starting grant (J Radjenovic). Three of them are tenured scientists (permanent staff) at CSIC-Barcelona (M Farre and S Perez) and at ICRA (S Rodriguez). Three of them got permanent jobs at the pharmaceutical industry in Norway, Switzerland and Canada (P Guerra, A Hildebrant, L Ferrando).C Postigo and M Llorca got the annual PhD Prize of the Faculty of Chemistry, UB.
The Deputy Direction heads the three ICRA’s Research Areas
AI- Resources and Ecosystems research area
AII -Water Quality research area
AIII - Technologies and Evaluation reserach area
Sergi Sabater l Deputy Director
Research Professor (UdG Associated)
sotsdireccio@icra.cat l Tel. (34) 972 18 33 80
Professor of Ecology at the University of Girona (UdG). His research career has been focused on the ecology of fluvial ecosystems, particularly regarding the role of biofilms, the metabolism and functioning of fluvial systems, and the effects of global change on fluvial systems.
The General Managing heads the R&D&i Support Services
Iván Sánchez l General Manager
gerencia@icra.cat l Tel. (34) 972 18 33 80
Born in Barcelona in 1970, he obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry, speciality Chemical Engineering from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1993.
Process engineer at the Process Development Center of Fine Chemicals (CDPQF) of the General Laboratory Testing and Research (LGAI) of Catalonia from 1995 to 1999.
CDPQF manager of LGAI from 2000 to 2005.
Industry Area Director of the Certification Division of Applus+ from 2006 to 2007.
Management Development Program (PDD) at IESE in 2007.
On August 25, 2008 he was appointed General Manager of the ICRA.
Olga Corral l Personal Assistant
secretaria@icra.cat l Tel. (34) 972 18 34 15