Plastic debris, including micro and nano-sized particles, is considered a top environmental problem that might affect human ability to preserve biodiversity and the availability of safe water supplies in the future. Hence, there is a clear and urgent need for the development of targeted treatment processes for the effective removal of micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) from water. Although advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been widely studied for the treatment of different emerging and recalcitrant water pollutants, their application for MNPs removal have been scarcely addressed. Among them, Fenton-based AOPs display significant implementation advantages, which will be explored and optimized in the present project. The main challenge consists in mineralizing pollutants that do not dissolve in water and were designed to be hardly degradable. To face this problem, PlasticOX pursues the development and intensification of advanced treatment strategies, such as homogeneous Fenton and photo-Fenton processes, to age and mineralize MNPs in water. This project seeks to tackle many of the knowledge gaps in the research field of this hot topic. The MNPs degradation will be assessed in terms of fragmentation, polymer deterioration, process efficiency, intermediates identity and kinetic models based on particles with decreasing diameters. Moreover, the effect of particle size, shape and composition will be explored in depth. My unique research background, which includes material science, catalysis, reactor engineering and a preliminary training in polymer science, will allow me to perform this ambitious project. Moreover, I will collaborate and learn from my Supervisors, who have a vast experience in the field. The Marie Curie fellowship will enhance the potential of my future career perspectives empowering me to take leading positions in the field of Wastewater Management worldwide. Moreover, I expect to develop a lasting scientific cooperation with the European host group.

While linguistic diversity is promoted at the supranational level by the European Union policies, standardization and homogenization still prevail at the national level in most European countries in alignment with the one state - one language nationalistic ideology. In this context, any speaker who deviates from the standard norm, in particular, migrants and their descendants are often misrecognized as linguistically deficient. A discriminatory process that entails social, economic, and political consequences. The case of Spain is paradigmatic, given the attested pressure towards normativity in the dominant variety of Castilian Spanish, especially in monolingual regions like Madrid. Drawing on interdisciplinarity, this project, MigrantVoices, aims to address this issue and open paths for social transformation. The project will provide and analyze examples of instances in which migrant voices – usually unheard– have reached domains of public influence in society and have managed to challenge and transform the linguistic prejudices that affect them. These instances of speaking out against linguistic discrimination coming from migrant communities have been deeply analyzed in the US but have not yet been studied in the European context. To analyze these initiatives, this action proposes an innovative change in perspective by focusing on artistic and cultural spaces which influence social practices and beliefs, and which have yet to be explored. Drawing on ethnography and participatory methods, this project will provide an analyzed corpus of successful experiences. This will contribute to generating public knowledge on the possibilities to foster immigrants’ inclusion and participation in European societies, which is one of the EU’s political priorities for 2021-2027. In doing so, MigrantVoices will also raise awareness of the role of language in discriminative processes, and promote fairer individual, social and institutional approaches to language.

The training program DyeMetalloCage(DMC) is an ambitious and well-designed project that has been conceived to make a ground-breaking impact within the interdisciplinary field of self-assembly, material science, nanochemistry, catalysis and biomedicine. This project is aimed at bringing metallo-supramolecular chemistry to unprecedented levels of applicability, developing novel assemblies constructed through supramolecular tools as new material for technology and biologically relevant functions. The proposal is focused on the preparation of cutting-edge metello-supramolecular assemblies based on subphthalocyanines, BODIPYs, and azaBODIPYs, and the study of their abilities to: (1) Behave as molecular receptors for the complexation of different fullerene derivatives in aqueous medium; (2) modify the reactivity and the kinetics of addition reactions over fullerenes in the interior of the cage; and (3) behave as supramolecular amphiphilic photosensitizers for biomedical applications. The applicant will gain new knowledge during the fellowship at the host organization. The training provided by the program will contribute to improve the development of his career in a number of ways. The highly multidisciplinary aspect of this project proposal will allow interaction with various experienced and young researcher different fields, including chemistry, physical chemistry and biochemistry. This will make a two-year long MSCA fellowship in the host group into an invaluable preparation for an independent professional career in academia or industry in near future. The training offered by the host group is of the highest quality, which is translated into the achievements and track record of former Ph.D. and postdoctoral students.

CO2PPER aims to explore a comprehensive method for the under-investigated catalytic CO2 fixation in asymmetric carboxylation reactions to produce chiral carboxylic acids. Unlike traditional methods that rely on asymmetric hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated acids and hydroxycarbonylation of alkenes, catalytic CO2 fixation provides a direct and environmentally preferable alternative. Despite recent efforts in creating new chiral ligands to manage reactivity and selectivity, developing a universal catalytic carboxylation using CO2 remains an unsolved problem. CO2PPER proposes a novel approach by employing stable and easily accessible sterodefined alkylboronic esters in metal-catalyzed carboxylations to prepare a broad range of enantioenriched chiral carboxylic acids. The CO2 insertion will be achieved by the use of abundant and inexpensive copper-catalysts, taking advantage of the lowest energy barrier for CO2 insertion into a M-C bond. This project will significantly contribute to the advancement of the CO2-valorization framework and presents an innovative green methodology for chiral carboxylic acid synthesis.