ChIR Symposium 2022

Dr. Matienzo obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of the Philippines. Through the Erasmus Mundus Master Course – Chemical Innovation and Regulation program, he earned a joint master’s degree diploma from the Università di Bologna, and Universitat de Barcelona in 2017. He then obtained his PhD in chemistry and chemical technology at the University of Chemistry and Technology – Prague in 2021.
Alongside his educational background, he has several industrial experiences in various fields such as oil and gas, environmental compliance, and renewable energy systems. He joined a short program for startup founders in Antler Amsterdam where he underwent several masterclasses, seminars, workshops, and design sprints about techno-entrepreneurship.
He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Philippines, an R&D advisor of a ClimateTech startup in Germany and the Chief Commercial Officer of a battery startup in the Philippines.

Kateryna Vengel was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She holds a Master of Science in Chemistry degree from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with a specialization in Membrane and Sorption Processes and Technologies. She was one of the first ChIR graduates, graduating in 2015 (1st ChIR edition). Currently she works as a Project Manager Team Lead in one of the major generic pharmaceutical companies in Spain - Galenicum Health.

Lorenzo Marotti is a 2019 ChIR graduate.
Lorenzo is currently working as a Manager at Eurometaux, the European Association of Metals Producers and Recyclers, in Brussels, Belgium. Previously, he worked in academia on metals, circularity and sustainability and at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki, Finland, implementing the European chemicals regulation.
Lorenzo's educational background includes a bachelor's in Chemistry from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza', Italy, a joint master's degree in Chemical Innovation and Regulation from the University of Barcelona, Spain and the University of Bologna, Italy, and a period of studies at the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo, Japan.

José Miguel Albahaca (Venezuela, 1989) received his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar (2015) and a MSc degree in Chemical Innovation and Regulation at the University of Bologna (2017). Shortly after, he joined the Catalan Institute of Water Research, where he worked on research projects on development of advanced water treatment technologies. In 2020, he joined Ecolab as an Associate Regulatory Specialist, where he managed compliance with REACH and the European Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). From 2022 onwards, he has been working at Mattel as a Sr. Chemist in Quality and Compliance, managing requirements under REACH, RoHS, the Toy Safety Directive and other relevant regulations in EMEA.

Victor Ajao was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. He has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry from University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and of course, the prestigious Erasmus Mundus ChIR Master’s degree from Universities of Algarve and Bologna. Victor was among the first ChIR cohort that started in 2013 and was the programme representative during the period.
Currently, Victor works as a Process Commissioning Engineer for Wessex Water, UK.

Dr. Md. Anisur Rahman Jamil completed his undergraduate studies including a MS degree in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Afterwards, he joined PJL Group at Durham University, UK and conducted research in green energy production and catalyst synthesis prior to attend the Erasmus Mundus Master in Chemical Innovation and Regulation jointly offered by the University of Barcelona, Spain & University of Bologna, Italy. Dr. Jamil completed his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Professor Kenichi Shimizu from Hokkaido University Institute for Catalysis, Japan. His research area covers the sustainable synthesis of chemicals using heterogeneous catalysis and renewable biomass. In 2021, he joined Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) as a postdoctoral scientist. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the American International University-Bangladesh and a Guest Scientist to the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka.

Kiran Abraham Jacob is a chemical engineering with specialization on Chemical Process Design. He graduated from ChIR in 2019 (5th Edition). He is currently working as Engineering Doctorate Trainee in Process and Product Design at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands.

Ligia Sandoval comes from Guatemala and holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Science. She joined the ChIR class of 2016 in sunny Faro, Algarve and graduated on 2018 in Barcelona.
She is currently working in BASF in the European Agricultural Solutions division as a Registation Specialist, based in Barcelona.

Yemataw was born in October 02, 1984, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia. He has received his MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 2011 from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Moreover, Yemataw has obtained a second joint MSc degree in Chemical Innovation and Regulation in 2017 from University of Algarve and Bologna University with a final thesis entitled “Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Evaluation of Zinc (II) Complexes with Phenanthroline Derivatives and S-Methyl Dithiocarbazate Schiff Bases". He did his thesis under the supervision of Dr. Isabel Correia and Prof. Isabel Cavaco. He has more than 10 years of teaching experience in Ethiopian Universities (Hawassa University and Debre Tabor University).
In 2020, Yemataw was granted a PhD scholarship in Chemistry at Bologna University and now doing his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Luca Prodi and Prof. Giovanni Valenti.
Yemataw’s research work now focused on design, synthesis and characterization of a different family of dye doped-silica nanoparticles and study of their photophysical and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) proprieties for bioanalytical applications.

Ana Vallejo concluded the Erasmus Mundus master’s degree in chemical Innovation and regulation, with a research project focused on nanotoxicology in 2017 (Heriot-Watt University/University of Bologna).

(2019-current) For the past three years, she have been working in a biotechnology company focused on the agricultural sector, Kimitec. The company develops and markets a wide range of agricultural solutions including fertilisers, prebiotics, biostimulants and biopesticides. Her daily job involves registering these products in different countries (Brazil, Turkey, Morocco, Australia, Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Portugal, Germany, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates). The job requires regulatory expertise to adapt to the local regulations. This includes working with CLP, REACH and BPR regulations and the new Fertilizer regulation 1009/2019 for countries in Europe, and different regulation on fertilizers and plant protection products for countries outside Europe. In addition, she provides support the R&D department on new product prototypes to comply with the relevant regulations.

(2018-2019) Before this position, she had the opportunity to work at the European Chemicals Agency, providing advice to industry and Member states competent authorities and helping them comply with their obligations under REACH and CLP regulations. Her daily job included engaging with internal and external stakeholders, providing support from the regulatory perspective, IT submission tools (IUCLID, REACH-IT) as well as ECHA’s dissemination platform. She also had the opportunity to take part and support the planning and coordination of two HelpNet events involving ECHA experts and EU member states helpdesks representatives.
She has thoroughly enjoyed the work she has performed, and is keen to continue working within the field of chemical and plant protection legislation.

Diego Milián Izeppi, PhD. Grenoble, France.
Rheologist. Formulation and study of complex fluids. Currently working at Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédes together with its spin-off Rheonova as a post-doctoral fellow.
Graduated from ChIR in 2017.

P.A. Roxas hails from the Philippines. She earned her BS Chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in 2004, and became a faculty member at the Institute of Chemistry, UPLB that same year. In 2010, she received an MS Chemistry degree from the same university. She taught general, organic, analytical and environmental chemistry undergraduate subjects as an assistant professor until 2013.

She was selected as one of the students for the pioneer edition of the Chemical Innovation and Regulation (ChIR) Master Course from 2013-2015. She took her first-year classes at the Universidade do Algarve in Faro, Portugal and did her masters research thesis at the Universitat de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain on “Developing an Analytical Methodology for the Determination of Halogenated Emerging Pollutants in Gull Egg Samples.”

She continues to be active in Erasmus+ promotional activities in the Philippines, and has previously held the posts of Course Representative and South East Asia Regional Coordinator for the Erasmus Mundus Student and Alumni Association. She is a founding member of Campus Erasmus Mundus, Inc. that aims to bridge the gap in internationalization through international cooperation and partnership to improve the quality of higher education institutions (HEIs).

In 2016, she was hired as Program Officer of the Land Bank of the Philippines, a government bank and the second largest bank in the Philippines. Her tasks include coordination and management of environmental and climate finance projects, ensuring environmental and social safeguards are in place for the Bank-financed projects, and providing inputs to the Bank’s sustainable finance framework, among others. Notably, she is in-charge of the first Green Climate Fund project in the country, the Multi-Hazard Impact-Based Forecasting and Early Warning System for the Philippines project, implemented by the national weather service and other national and international agencies.

Mariana Martinez is a ChIR Student of the 6th cohort, 2021-2023. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Her interests are the regulation of drugs, pesticides, and cosmetics. Her experience as a sanitary compliance reviewer at the National Regulatory Agency of Mexico (COFEPRIS) taught her that regulation is the ideal merge between scientific research and legal knowledge that leads to the approval of safer chemical substances for human use, allowing her to make a meaningful contribution to public health.

Fajar is a ChIR student in the 6th cohort, 2021-2023.
Fajar works for the Ministry of Health of Indonesia, and was a part of the National Committee of Narcotics and Psychotropics Scheduling. Fajar holds a bachelor degree in Pharmacy and a professional degree as a Pharmacist, both from Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia.