Dr. Pilar Aranda is Research Professor at the Materials Science Institute of the National Research Council of Spain (ICMM-CSIC), and leader of the “Nanostructured Hybrid, Biohybrid and Porous Materials” Group (2018-2026), being currently Deputy Director of the ICMM-CSIC and one of the Guarantors of its Severo Ochoa Award (CEX2024-001445-S). She graduated in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid (1986), and then she joined the Materials Science Institute of Madrid, CSIC, carrying out her Ph.D. (1991) under the supervision of Prof. Ruiz-Hitzky on nanocomposite materials based on poly(ethylene oxide)/clay intercalations, which gave rise to a new class of ion conductors. She has worked at the École National Superieur de Chimie de Montpellier, France and at the University of Aberdeen, UK under the supervision of Prof. L. Cot and Prof. A. R. West, respectively. She was subsequently a postdoctoral Fellow at the Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO working with Prof. C.R. Martin before joining the Carlos III University in Madrid as Assistant Professor (1994–1997) till she moved to the ICMM-CSIC. Her research has focused on nanostructured functional organic–inorganic and bio-inorganic hybrid materials, mainly based on silicates and clays, for diverse applications: electrochemical devices, environmental remediation, controlled drug delivery, green bionanocomposites, etc. Her current research interests focus on nanostructured materials prepared by assembling clay minerals to develop functional nanoarchitectures, including hybrid and biohybrid materials, for diverse applications. She has participated in more than 50 research projects funded by public and private funds, has more than 250 publications as articles, book chapters and monographs and has 13 registered patents. She has also participated in the organization of various national and international meetings, acting as General Secretary of the Euchem Conference on Chemical Reactivity in Nanoporous Solids (Miraflores de la Sierra 1999, Spain), Co-chaired the 5th Materials Discussion on Porous Materials and Molecular Intercalation, (The Royal Society of Chemistry, Madrid, 2002), Chaired the Workshop on Hybrid Materials Based on Clay Minerals (Madrid, 2007), the Workshop on Materials and Clays (Madrid, 2010), the Worshop on “Nanomateriales for Sustainable Energy Production and Storage” (Madrid, 2026), acted as General Secretary of the 2010 Trilateral Meeting on Clays organized by the Spanish Clay Society (SEA), the Clays Science Society of Japan (CSSJ) and the Clay Minerals Society (CMS) and being involved as Convenor of Session in diverse forums (AIPEA, ECGA and CMS Conferences, amongst others). Currently, she is involved in the organization of the CLAY 2027 Conference, new AIPEA Series. She is currently Vicepresident of the SEA, being its General Secretary (2002-2010) and its Liaison Officer at the Asociation International pour l’Étude des Argiles, AIPEA (2004-2010). She is currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of Recent Patents in Nanotechnology and Associate Editor of Applied Clays Science journals. She has been involved as responsible of various ICMM-CSIC Technical Facilities (2006-2008 Chemical Analysis, 2008- “FE-SEM Laboratory”, 2017- “Textural Characterization”, 2024- Cryogen) at the ICMM-CSIC.
e-mail: pilar.aranda@csic.es