Solaima Belachqer, CIESOL researcher, awarded the Best International PhD Thesis Award of 2025

The «International PhD School on Advanced Oxidation Processes» (IPS-AOP) has awarded first place to the researcher from the Water Regeneration Unit for her pioneering work in sustainable wastewater treatment using solar energy.

Solaima Belachqer El Attar, a member of the center’s Water Regeneration Unit, has been recognized with the first prize for the best PhD thesis of 2025, awarded by the International PhD School on Advanced Oxidation Processes (IPS-AOP).

The award-winning work, titled «Continuous-flow solar chlor-photo-Fenton for sustainable wastewater reclamation,» has stood out for its exceptional scientific rigor and its real-world applicability, achieving an average impact factor (IF) of 11.10. The thesis was supervised by doctors José Antonio Sánchez Pérez and Paula Soriano Molina, leading researchers in the field of water treatment.

The podium of these prestigious awards was completed by researchers from top-tier institutions: in second place, Dr. Adeel from the University of Salerno (Italy)—whose work was co-supervised by Sixto Malato, a researcher at the Plataforma Solar de Almería linked to CIESOL—, and in third place, Iván Vallés Ferrer from the Universitat Politècnica de València.

From CIESOL, we would like to extend our most sincere congratulations to Solaima and her thesis supervisors for this well-deserved award, which highlights the quality of the young talent that is trained and developed within our facilities.