- She will be responsible for leading and coordinating the 2020 program of activities, based on research, training and outreach
- The objectives of the Chair include the creation of an industrial doctorate, one of the first at the ULL
At its most recent meeting, the Joint Committee appointed Andrea Brito, Professor of Chemical Engineering, to lead the Fundación Cepsa Chair for Innovation and Energy Efficiency at the University of La Laguna. The meeting was also used to address the 2020 program of activities, which will be approved in the coming weeks and led and coordinated by Brito.
Rector of the ULL, Rosa Aguilar, and Manager of Cepsa in the Canary Islands and Fundación Cepsa's representative in the Canary Islands, José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo, recently renewed the agreement between the institutions, continuing their commitment to developing the Chair — which will receive a budget of 40,000 euro in 2020 alone.
The activities that are planned include holding regular sessions on issues related to energy, as well as several cycles of seminars and conferences and the creation of an industrial doctorate, one of the first at the University of La Laguna.
The Fundación Cepsa Chair at the University of La Laguna was created in 2018 for the development of teaching, research, technological innovation and outreach activities. It aims to become a benchmark in the way in which private companies connect with academic institutions, building bridges between the company and the University.
Fundación Cepsa currently has similar chairs in Madrid, Huelva, Seville and Cádiz, which have allowed thousands of students to gain first-hand experience of a real working environment, while bringing university professors closer to the reality of industry.
An Extensive Résumé
Andrea Brito Alayón is a professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of La Laguna and has an extensive résumé focused on energy research. She also has extensive experience within the ULL's Department of Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Technology, as well as at the University of Salford, UK, where she worked for several years.
She has acted as vice-dean and dean of the ULL's Faculty of Chemistry; director of research and technology of the ITC (Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias — Technological Institute of the Canary Islands); president of the Department of Science and Technology of the Instituto de Estudios Canarios; and was an academic at the Real Academia Canaria de Ciencias.
Within the scope of her research work, she has published 45 articles in international journals and 17 in journals in her home country of Spain. She has also led 34 research projects and 15 theses, two of which received European mention and one of which received international mention. She has also held different university management positions and taught on several degree courses in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemical Engineering.
Brito has been involved in projects such as Adaptación al cambio climático de los sistemas energéticos de la Macaronesia (the adaptation of energy systems in Macaronesia to climate change), funded by the Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands Transnational Cooperation Program; and Diésel renovable alternativo al gasoil convencional (renewable diesel as an alternative to conventional diesel) funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. She has also been responsible for several technical reports issued by the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands, including the report entitled Análisis de las posibilidades de desarrollo de biorrefinerías en Canarias (analysis of the potential for the development of biorefineries in the Canary Islands).
Furthermore, she acted as a member of the Scientific Committee for the European Commission ERA-NET Net-Biome project "Tropical and Subtropical Research Strategy and its Implementation;" of the Advisory Committee of the Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society; and of the team leading activities and studies during the El Hierro volcanic eruption. In addition, she has served on various national and international forums and committees, including the Executive Committee of the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands Consortium, and has been a member of the Week of Innovative Regions in Europe Steering Committee (WIRE 2010).