María Escudero-Escribano (Cáceres, 1983) graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Extremadura and obtained her Ph.D. in Electrochemistry from the CSIC and the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2011. She was then a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark and Stanford University. In 2017, María joined the University of Copenhagen as an Assistant Professor and Group Leader and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. Since September 2022, she has been an ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader at ICN2. She has received numerous awards, including the European Young Chemist Award (Gold Medal) 2016, the Princess of Girona Scientific Research Award 2018, the ECS Energy Technology Division Young Investigator Award 2018, the RSEQ Young Researchers Award 2019, the Clara Immerwahr Award 2019 and the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship 2021. She is a Member of the Young Academy of Spain and the recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant (2023-2028).

María’s research combines electrochemistry, materials engineering, and in situ characterisation to elucidate the design principles for the discovery of tailored catalysts for renewable energy conversion and the production of green fuels and chemicals. The main research areas of the NanoElectrocatalysis and Sustainable Chemistry Group, led by María, include: (i) novel nanomaterials for sustainable energy conversion and storage; (ii) electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into renewable fuels and chemicals; (iii) sustainable electrosynthesis of value-added chemicals; (iv) surface nanostructuring, active site, and atomic ensemble engineering; (v) multimetallic and multifunctional materials for electrocatalysis; (vi) electrochemical activation and partial oxidation of methane. The latter research line has been financed by an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2022, to investigate atomic-scale tailored materials for the electrochemical conversion of methane into valuable chemicals.