María Tripiana Serrano works as an R&D project manager in IDENER leading the chemical and industrial applications team. She is interested in topics related to resource efficiency, raw materials and environment as well as in the field of scientific modelling.
What are you working on?
My main tasks are related to the development of project ideas within the H2020 framework. I am mainly focused on the societal challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials. I also coordinate the work to be done in related projects that are already running and, in some of them I carry out scientific modelling of the involved processes.
What attracts you in the research project you are working on?
I work on several research projects and in all of them what I like the most is the possibility of discussing the different aspects with experts in the field at European level. In some projects, for instance, IDENER is only involved in engineering tasks, but I have the opportunity to talk about the process with scientists who are going to design the experiments, SMEs that are in charge of the LCA and economic assessment, large companies that are interested in the upscaled process and experts in dissemination and communication activities. This is very enriching. Besides, some of the meetings needed for the development of the projects are face-to-face meetings in the facilities of the involved partners, so travelling and knowing new places all around Europe makes working on these projects very attractive.
Where do you work? What do you like about your organization or the city you live in?
IDENER has its headquarters in Seville (Spain). I lived in Seville since I started my degree in 2006 until this summer and for me, it is one of the loveliest cities in Spain. IDENER has a very flexible policy regarding the schedule and the workspace, so right now I’m living in Fuengirola (Málaga) and I work from home most of the time. I really appreciate the possibility of organizing my time and I feel that I am very productive this way. I keep in touch with my team and we talk every day.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is to be a happy person. Nowadays, we spend plenty of time doing things that we don’t like and making a lot of effort in finding happiness. We forgot about enjoying the journey. In my case, I have a job that allows me to work in different research areas where I am constantly learning and I can manage my time, I live in a city where I can enjoy the sun 320 days per year and social and cultural activities are around the corner, I have my family close to me and I am travelling approximately once per month because of my job. What else can I ask for?
BIO
María Tripiana was born in Córdoba (Spain) on March 1989. She spent her childhood in Écjia (Sevilla, Spain) and she moved to Seville (Spain) in 2006 where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, industrial intensification. She continued her master studies in Sevilla where she received her master’s degree in environmental engineering with which she received an extraordinary end of studies award in 2015. She spent two more years working at the University of Seville in research projects related to modelling of circulating fluidized bed units until she joined IDENER in 2017. In IDENER, she leads the chemical and industrial applications team and she works as an R&D project manager in H2020 framework related projects.
