President and chair of the RAICEX Communication Commission

Ana Barragán studied Physics at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) and the University of Lund (Sweden), where she spent 1 year within the Erasmus program. She graduated in 2013 and moved right after to Belgium, where she is doing a PhD in medical physics at the UCLouvain. Her research topic is “proton therapy”, a growing technique to treat cancer with radiation nowadays. In 2016, she co-worked in the creation of CEBE as association, where she tries to share her passion for science by helping in the organization of events to popularize science among other topics.

Vice-president and co-chair of the RAICEX Communication Commission

Born and raised in Huesca. Elena graduated in Physics at the University of Zaragoza in 2017. She completed her degree at the University of Rennes (France) thanks to the Erasmus program. At this same university, she obtained the Master of Medical Physics in 2018. In the context of the second year of the Masters, she did an internship at UCLouvain, where she currently continues her third year of PhD. Her research focuses on the adaptation of radiotherapy treatments, more specifically she works on adaptive proton therapy. Elena joined CEBE in March 2019 and since then she is involved in the communication and social media management of CEBE.

Secretary and volunteer in the RAICEX Talent Attraction and Science Policy Committee  

Laura Quijano graduated in Geology at the University of Zaragoza. She was awarded with a scholarship of the Erasmus program for one year at the Paul Sabatier Toulouse III University (France). She holds a PhD in Geology and she accomplished the doctoral thesis in one of the Institutes of the Spanish National Research Council (EEAD-CSIC). She collaborated with different universities in Switzerland (University of Basel and ETH-Zurich) and Belgium (University of Ghent and UCLouvain). In 2017, she joined the Georges Lemaître Center for Earth and Climate Research - Earth and Life Institute (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) as a beneficiary of a postdoctoral fellowship (24 months) of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. She currently works as a scientific officer in Brussels. Since 2018, she has contributed by representing CEBE in the RAICEX Commission for the Attraction of Talent and Scientific Policy and the organization of scientific dissemination events.

Treasurer

Angel completed his studies in Telecommunication Engineering and Electronic Engineering in Valladolid (Spain). After that, he moved to Belgium, where he did his PhD studies at KULeuven, hosted by IMEC (Leuven), researching on designing and optimizing processes for solar cells. Then he moved to Kaneka, focusing again on the research and development of solar cells. He is currently working as a consultant for TMC at imec in litography development. Angel authors and coauthors more than 50 scientific papers in international journals and conferences. In 2016, he co-worked in the creation of CEBE as an association, where he is the current treasurer and helps in several administrative tasks.

Leader of the Professional Development Committee 

Laura obtained her degree in Environmental Sciences and her doctoral thesis at the Pablo de 'Olavide University (Seville) where she worked with hydrocarbon degrading bacteria. After defending her PhD, she joined Abengoa as a Junior Researcher, as part of the team in charge of developing filamentous fungi for the production of bioethanol from plant waste. After that period she decided to return to academic research and obtained a Belgian postdoctoral fellowship to work at UCLouvain on streptococcus species with different biotechnological applications, such as the control of pathogenic bacteria. She joined CEBE during the pandemic as a collaborator in the science communication committee.

Leader of the Science Comunication Committee

Born and raised in Zamora, Mónica studied the BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Salamanca and did her last year and BSc Thesis at the KU Leuven. Immediately after, she moved to Rotterdam (The Netherlands) for her MSc in Molecular Medicine. She came back to the KU Leuven to pursue her PhD, which deals with the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the progression of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. As a last-year PhD student and vocational scientist, Mónica is convinced that research passion and science communication are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, she is involved in several SciComm initiatives in Belgium such as “Science Figured Out” and “Pint of Science”.  From June 2019 onwards, Mónica collaborates with CEBE in SciComm and Women in Science event organization.

Originally from the Canary Islands, Sandra moved to Madrid to start her biology training at the UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), later she specialized in genetics and cell biology. For almost two years, as a GFR and TFM student, she focused on the study of the synaptotoxic effects of amyloid peptide, one of the components of Alzheimer's Disease, on the neuromuscular termination of Drosophila melanogaster. During her training period, she made two stays abroad under the Erasmus+ program: in Leeds, studying the mechanical properties of calose hydrogels as a possible drug transporter; and in Brussels, acquiring skills in diplomacy and scientific communication. Thanks to the last stay, she joined CEBE team.

Currently, she is studying the Master in Clinical Trials Monitoring in order to become a Clinical Research Associate (CRA)

Leader of the Communication and Social Media Committee

Aída has a degree in Biology from the University of Granada (Spain). After getting to know the University of Leuven during her Erasmus, she decided to study a Master in Biophysics and Biochemistry at the University of Leuven and later a Master in Neuroscience, this time at the University of Antwerp. She is currently in his final year of her PhD at the University of Hasselt. Her research on multiple sclerosis is part of the European collaborative project "Eurlipids".

Leader of the Expansion and Consolidation Committee 

Ángel Fuentes studied Biology at the University of Oviedo and holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Reading (UK). He has worked for many years in multinationals (DuPont, Syngenta, Pfizer) and has spent 5 years in the Directorate General for Research of the European Commission. In April 2021 he will start working at HaDEA, the new executive agency for Digital and Health. He is also a staff representative, a member of Volt Europe and Volt Spain and a very active member of the Spanish community of institutions, especially the scientific community. He also has close contacts in the European Parliament. Moreover, he practices Taoist Tai Chi and Mindfulness. He is also interested in gender equality and the Europeanisation of Spain.