Silvia Díaz Cruz

Dr. M. Silvia Díaz-Cruz is a Senior Research Scientist at IDAEA-CSIC, where she develops and applies advanced analytical methodologies to investigate contaminants of emerging concern and address key challenges in environmental protection, water quality and sustainable water management. By integrating analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry and risk assessment, her research provides the scientific basis for addressing major environmental challenges in water quality, ecosystem protection and chemical safety, while supporting evidence-informed environmental policies through close collaboration with academia, governmental agencies and industry.
She obtained her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2001 and was awarded the European Doctorate distinction in 2002. After serving as Assistant Professor at the UB (2000-03), she joined CSIC as a Ramón y Cajal Researcher, where she has developed her scientific career ever since. She currently conducts her research within the Water, Environment and Food Chemistry (ENFOCHEM) Consolidated Research Group.
Her scientific career began with the electrochemical study of heavy metal speciation and metal–protein interactions using advanced voltammetric techniques. Over the past twenty-five years, her research has focused on the development and application of state-of-the-art analytical methodologies based on gas and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem and high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS and HRMS) to investigate contaminants of emerging concern. Her work has contributed significantly to understanding the occurrence, environmental fate, transformation, toxicity and risks of emerging contaminants, with particular focus on UV filters and other personal care products, as well as pharmaceuticals, biocides, pesticides, microplastics and plastic polymers in environmental, biological and food matrices. In recent years, her research has expanded towards sustainable water management, with particular emphasis on wastewater reclamation and reuse, managed aquifer recharge, soil–aquifer treatment systems and Nature-based Solutions for water regeneration.
Throughout her career, she has participated in more than 55 competitive national and international research projects, serving as Principal Investigator or Project Coordinator in 17 of them. She has led major multidisciplinary initiatives including ROUSSEAU, MARADENTRO, REMAR-LIFE, CONMIMO, SOLEMIO and ECOSUN, while contributing to large European collaborative projects such as AQUATERRA, ARTDEMO, NOMIRACLE, RISKBASE and GLOBAQUA.
Dr. Diaz-Cruz has authored more than 190 peer-reviewed publications, including more than 150 papers in SCI-indexes journals, contributed invited chapters to numerous scientific books, and co-edited the Springer volume Personal Care Products in the Aquatic Environment. Her work has received more than 14,000 citations and an H-index of 69, reflecting its sustained international impact and placing her among the top 3% of female researchers in Spain according to the Google Scholar Ranking of Spanish Women Researchers (2024). She serves as Associate Editor of Clean Planet (Springer Nature), of Water, and of Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability.
She has supervised 7 PhD theses, 29 Master’s theses and 12 undergraduate final projects, and has contributed extensively to graduate education through teaching and doctoral training at the UB and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). She has also served on PhD committees at the UdG, UB and the UPC, contributing to doctoral training and academic evaluation.
She is an appointed member of the Expert Advisory Committee on Reclaimed Water of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge), an evaluator for national and international research funding agencies, including AEI and the European Science Foundation, and an expert advisor to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.