Dr. Durán-Álvarez is a Mexican chemical engineer, holding a PhD in Environmental Engineering by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (2013). He has worked in the field of the contaminants of emerging concern since 2006, validating analytical techniques based on gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Since then, Dr. Durán-Álvarez gained expertise in the quantification of pharmaceutical compounds, personal care products and other endocrine disrupting chemicals in water, soil, sediments and biota samples. As a part of his PhD, he studied the environmental fate of contaminants of emerging concern, with emphasis on the distribution and leaching of these pollutants through irrigated soils where untreated wastewater is reused. Dr. Durán-Álvarez has held the charge of Associated Researcher in the Laboratory of Environmental Nanotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico since 2015. As a part of this charge he had to diversify his research interests, starting with the study of the synthesis routes to obtain semiconductor materials. From 2016, the eclectic scientific production of Dr. Durán-Álvarez encompasses a) the validation of analytical techniques based on chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to quantify emerging pollutants in environmental matrices; b) the occurrence and environmental fate of emerging pollutants in the urban water cycle as well as in drylands reusing wastewater; c) the synthesis of nanosized semiconductor materials and their characterization as photocatalysts to remove emerging pollutants from water; and most recently, d) the dryland development paradigm. Following these interests, he has established fruitful collaboration with universities from Latin America and Africa in order to create research networks to strengthen the investigation in his research areas in developing countries. Dr. Jiménez Cisneros holds a PhD in Water and Wastewater Treatment in the Institut National des sciences Appliquées in Toulouse, France (1985). Her fields of expertise include water and wastewater treatment and reuse technologies and urban water. Some of the positions she has occupied include engineer at the Lyonnaise des Eaux, Paris (1985); deputy coordinator of the Water Quality Department (1991-1992); coordinator of the Human Resources Development Department of the Water Sector at the Mexican Institute of Water Technology; coordinator of the Environmental Engineering Department at UNAM, Mexico (1988-1989); Deputy Director of the Hydraulics and Environmental Department at UNAM, Mexico (1991-2001), and leader of project at the University of Pretoria in South Africa (2005). From 2009 to September 2012; she was a Professor and Head of the Treatment and Reuse Group at UNAM, Mexico. Dr. Jiménez was the president of the International Water Association in Mexico from 2010 to 2012. Also, she has collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In addition, Dr. Jimenez was a Senior Expert Consultant to the Governments of Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain and South Africa in a wide range of issues, including the formation of national wastewater treatment programmes, as well as co-Chair of the Inter-American Network of Academic Sciences (IANAS) and member of the Executive Committee of the International Water Association. She was the co-coordinator of leading authors for the freshwater resources chapter under the adaptation group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for AR5. Dr. Jiménez was the Director of the Division of Water Sciences at UNESCO and Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme, from 2013 to 2018. Dr Jiménez is the recipient of several prestigious honors and awards; the most remarkable are the Global Water Award of the International Water Association (2010); the National Prize of Sciences and Arts in Engineering, Mexico (2009); the Award of the National University in Technological Innovation, Mexico (2008); The Nobel Peace Prize, for her participation in the 4th IPCC Report on climate change (2007); the National Environmental Merit Award, Mexico (2006) and The Royal Order of the Polar Star (2002) delivered by His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.
