Dr. Teresa Gea is Professor of the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She is Chemical Engineer (UAB, 1999) and PhD in Environmental Science and Technology (UAB, 2005).

Her research activity began in 1999 and focuses on the biological valorisation of organic waste. In a first stage, she worked on the composting process, its optimization and the analysis of physicochemical properties, as well as the use of respirometry techniques for the evaluation and control of processes. From her PhD thesis, she published 6 articles in SCI journals, 2 articles in an American technical journal and 2 articles in technical journals at national level. Her research has combined an applied aspect in the first years of her career, in contact with waste management companies or producers, with a more exploratory facet, searching for new bioconversion processes for the development of the circular bioeconomy in a second stage. As a member of the GICOM group, she has participated continuously since 2000 in the 7 R+D+I national projects awarded. In 2006, she did a short and inspiring postdoctoral stay with Dr. Tom Richard from Penn State University (USA), a pioneer in composting, bioenergy and solid-state fermentation. Without abandoning the composting and anaerobic digestion processes, essential for an integral waste management, her activity evolved into a new line of research in solid-state fermentation, with the aim of obtaining a greater recovery of organic waste, beyond the compost and biogas. Thus, in a first stage she studied the production of hydrolytic enzymes and biopesticides, within the framework of different projects.

She has co-supervised 9 doctoral theses and co-supervises three more in progress. According to Scopus (June 2022) her h-index is 29, and her 65 publications have received more than 2500 citations, with an average over 300 citations / year in the last 2 years. She has participated in a total of 8 national projects and a European project and currently co-leads a national project on the production of biosurfactants from waste. She has participated in numerous contracts with companies and administrations, leading several of them in the period 2002-2010. In 2015 she led a contract with the Belgian company Nutrition Sciences N.V. She has been a vocal member of the board of directors of the Spanish Composting Network since 2018.

Additionally, Dr. Gea began her teaching career in 1999 as a pre-doctoral fellow, as an assistant professor in 2005 and as a tenured professor since 2010. In addition, she is the coordinator of the teaching plan and the teaching staff in the Dpt. of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering since 2012. Previously, she collaborated with the management of the UAB School of Engineering, coordinating various initiatives to bring engineering closer to girls. Among them, she coordinated the FECYT Ingenionautas project (FCT-10-1034, PI Dr. Sorribes) and led the launch of the first edition of the FIRST Lego League at the school.