Dr Alba Gómez Arias has a Degree in Geology, a Master in Geology and Environmental Management of Mineral Resources and a double PhD in Industrial and Environmental Science and Technology from the University of Huelva (UHU, Spain) and in Geohydrology from the University of the Free State (UFS, South Africa) in 2021. She began working as a researcher at the UFS in 2014, where she collaborated on numerous national and international projects on environmental characterization of industrial waste, remediation of contaminated soils and waters, hydrogeological studies, revalorization of mining waste and biogeochemical exploration. Among the international projects, it is worth highlighting her participation in ERA-MIN of HORIZON2020 (ERA-MIN_AMDREY_PCIN-2015-242), ERA-MIN3 of HORIZON-Europe (Tailing32Green), Unesco (UNESCO-IGCP682) and her leadership in the Selfaquasens project of HORIZON-MSCA (Horizon-Europe 101131379 — SELFAQUASENS). She developed new acidic and alkaline water treatment system called BDAS, whose patent (PCT/IB2015/056760) has been successfully implemented in seven mines located in South Africa, Spain and the UK.

She is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Natural Resources and Agrobiology (IRNAS-CSIC) and general secretary of the Association of Spanish Researchers in Southern Africa (ACESDA). Among her achievements, she has co-authored a book, three book chapters, fifteen articles in indexed journals in the first/second quartile and more than 30 proceedings in national and international conferences. She has also been awarded the Best Innovation Award for “the BDAS water treatment system” by the Technology and Innovation Agency (TIA) in 2016; first regional prize and national finalist for “Kruger National Park at risk” in the “3 Minutes Thesis Competition”; and the Alkebulan Early-Career Talent awarded by the Ramón Areces Foundation in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Pretoria and ACESDA in 2021