Biography

Maria del Mar Cerrillo-Gonzalez (MMCG) holds a bachelor's (2017) and a master's (2019) degree in Chemical Engineering (2017), both from the University of Malaga. Her first experience in the research field was thanks to a research initiation grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (MECD), which enabled her to join the GIGA team, belonging to the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Malaga. In 2019, she received funding from the MECD's University Teacher Training (FPU) program, which allowed her to begin her studies in the Doctoral Program of Chemical Technologies under the supervision of Dr. José Miguel Rodríguez Maroto and Dr. Juan Manuel Paz García. She completed her doctoral thesis in 2024, obtaining the highest grade and international distinction. Her doctoral thesis was focused on the recovery of critical raw materials from lithium-ion battery waste. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher, and her work focuses on the application of electrodialysis for the selective recovery of dissolved metals and the regeneration of leaching reagents in battery waste recycling processes.

During her doctoral studies, MMCG has also been deeply involved in international collaborations, completing research stays at two prestigious institutions. The first stay was at Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy (2021), with the team of Professor Francesca Beolchini. The second stay was at Northeastern University in the United States (2022), with the team of Professor Akram Alshawabkeh. Both secondments were part of the European e.THROUGH project, focused on sustainable innovations in resource recovery (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/778045).

In addition to her research work, MMCG has also participated in teaching activities for UMA Chemical Engineering bachelor’s degree and UMA Chemistry bachelor’s degree, specifically in Basic Operations II, Chemical Engineering Lab and Introduction of Chemical Engineering.