Mireia Plà Castellana

I am a hydrogeologist, with a PhD in Water Science and Technology. I am a Technical Project Manager with experience in public and private water quality projects and drinking and wastewater treatment systems. 

I have experience in installing and calibrating water sensors as well as data processing and generating mathematical models (regression and classification models) using R. 

I also have experience in nitrogen content in soils, application of fertilizers (EEF) and laboratory experiments for water and soil quality management.

Languages: 

Catalan - native; Spanish - bilingual; English - C1; Deutsch - B1.1 (learning)

03.2023 to 09.2024 - Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) – Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) – Environmental engineer / Postdoctoral Researcher 

I have involved in two main projects about nitrogen soil content analysis:

• CORDIS 2022 LiWeFor: The main project of my postdoctoral position in KIT is to enforce educational knowledge throughout four joint field campaigns to study the most important greenhouse gas emitters in tropical forest regions, the Peruvian Amazon and Taman Negara, Malaysia. 
• Automated soil incubator system to study gaseous N losses, N leaching and N– use from different EEF on a farm soil in Germany: This was a private project funded by ICL to compare different enhanced efficiency fertilizers, EEF, in terms of N losses with one coated urea fertilizer they just developed. 

09.2022 to 02.2023 - IONOS – Senior Project Manager 

As an IT Project Manager, I maintained clear stakeholder communication with regular updates and ensured quality control by monitoring performance and testing standards throughout the project lifecycle. 

09.2020 to 08.2022 - Eurecat – Catalan Research Centre  – Water, Air and Soil Researcher / Project Manager 

As a researcher in Eurecat, I was involved in several public and private projects. Most of them related to water quality management, water quality politics, soil sampling to monitor several contaminants in Tarragona’s’ petrochemical complex, fluid corrosion, among others. Two of them are listed below: 

• LIFE19 GIE/FR/001013 WAT’SAVEREUSE: Study water legislation and national initiatives to promote a circular economy in water consumption, particularly in the tourism industry, targeting both water savings and reutilization, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean environment. 
• LIFE20 ENV/ES/000880 SOuRCE: Development of a novel approach based on a combination of Surface Foam Fractionation (SAFF), Anion Exchange Filters (AEX), Electrochemical Oxidation (EO) and phytoremediation to achieve the removal of a wide array of long-chain PFAS from the soil.

07.2017 to 08.2020 – Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) and s::can Messtechnik GmbH - Co Industrial PhD student / Water quality Technician 

During my industrial PhD and as a water quality technician in s::can S.A., and ICRA, I focused on developing technical solutions, and providing support in the sanitation sector, including sensor installation in water treatment systems. I installed, calibrated and maintained quality sensors (i.e., pH, ORP, spectrophotometric). My doctoral research focused on developing mathematical algorithms and predictive models for contaminant detection in drinking water treatment plants, utilizing the spectro::lyser probe. The aim was to enhance the detection capabilities of this spectrophotometric sensor in collaboration with the company that sought to improve its performance.

02.2014 to 05.2017 – UNESCO Chair on Sustainability – Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) - Project Manager Assistant / Junior Hydrogeologist

Project manager assistant and junior hydrogeologist of LIFE+ and national projects related to studying the performance of sustainable and natural water treatment systems (constructed wetlands and buffer strips) in agricultural and industrial environments. The two projects I was involved in were LIFE11 ENV/ES/000579 Reagritech and LIFE14 ENV/ES/000460 Ecorkwaste. 

11.2024 to 01.2025 - Geographic Information System (GIS) Specialization – Ongoing  / University of California, Davis – Coursera 

09.2024 – 11.2024 - IMB Project Management Professional Certificate  / IMB Professional Certificate – Coursera 

07.2017 – 02.2023 - Industrial PhD – Doctorate in Water Science and Technology  / University of Girona 

2013 – 2016 - MSc Geotechnical Engineering, specializing in Hydrogeology / Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPV) 

2008 - 2013 - BSc Geology / Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)