13/04/2023
The director of the Catalan Water Research Institute (ICRA-CERCA), Damià Barceló, has been awarded the DAC-EuCheMS European prize for his scientific and teaching career.
This is a distinction made by the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the European Chemical Society (DAC-EuChemS), which brings together more than 40 European chemical societies, to people who have demonstrated significant and sustained achievements in research or education in Analytical Chemistry throughout his career, as is the case with Barceló.
The candidacy of the director of ICRA-CERCA was proposed by the Catalan Chemistry Society (SCQ) of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, which is a member of EuChemS.
The jury, composed of renowned European analytical chemists, has unanimously awarded this honorary award to the director of ICRA-CERCA. The award will be presented during the European Analytical Chemistry Conference Euroanalysis 2023, which will take place in Geneva (Switzerland) from August 26 to 31.
Acceptance of the award also entails giving the inaugural lecture of the congress, in which Barceló will speak about "Microplastics in the aquatic environment: ecological analytical protocols, vectors of pharmaceutical products and risk to biota".
About Damià Barceló Cullerès
Damià Barceló Cullerès has been the director of the Catalan Water Research Institute (ICRA-CERCA), since its inauguration in 2009, and has been a member of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), since in 1999. His research career has focused on the area of water quality, especially on the development of methods to control organic pollution caused by so-called emerging pollutants (polar pesticides, surfactants, detergents, disruptors endocrine and pharmaceutical products) in waste and natural water, as well as research associated with microplastics and biomarkers of exposure. Since September 2017 he has been the supervisor of 60 doctorates, and has given short and continuing training courses at universities in Spain, South Korea, Brazil, Greece, Saudi Arabia, among others, as well as participated in conferences international PITTCON, SETAC and ExTech.
Since 2010 he has been on the list of most cited scientists (ISI Highly Cited), due to the number and exceptional quality of his publications, with a Hirsch-Index of 176 and a total number of citations exceeding 137,000 thousand and more than 1600 publications (source Google Scholar, April 2023). Also, in 2023, Research.com ranked him as the 3rd ranked environmental scientist and 23rd ranked chemist in the world.
About the European Chemical Society (EuChemS)
EuChemS, the European Chemical Society, is an umbrella organization representing national Chemical Societies and other chemistry-related organizations in Europe. EuChemS aims to foster a platform for scientific discussion and provide a single and impartial European voice on key policy issues in chemistry and related fields. The Catalan Society of Chemistry is a full member of EuChemS and has representatives in the different divisions.
About ICRA-CERCA
The Catalan Water Research Institute is a multidisciplinary center that studies the integral cycle of water in terms of water resources, water quality and treatment and evaluation technologies. As well as the transfer of this knowledge to society and the business and industrial fabric.
The Institute was created on October 26, 2006, by the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia within the framework of the Catalan Research Centers Program (CERCA). And its headquarters, located in the Science and Technology Park of the University of Girona, was inaugurated on October 7, 2009.
ICRA-CERCA is a center attached to the UdG and has the impetus of its patrons: the Department of Research and Universities, the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) and the University of Girona (UdG).
