2002 MSc in Analytical and Physical Chemistry from Vienna University of Technology, Austria. 2006 PhD in Land and Water Management from BOKU Vienna, Austria. 2000-2008 External Research Staff & post-doc, Plataforma Solar de Almería, Spain - Solar advanced oxidation & desalination. 2008-2014 Senior research fellow, The University of Queensland, Australia - Group leader: Drinking and Recycled Water. 2014-2015 Ramon & Cajal research fellow, Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) - Group leader: Water Supply and Advanced Treatment. 2015- ICREA Research Professor at Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) - Group leader: Water Supply and Advanced Treatment.
Research interests
I provide scientific leadership toward smart, water-sensitive cities and societies by advancing innovative and implementable solutions for reclaimed and drinking water treatment. My research integrates technology innovation with analytical chemistry and water quality management, bridging fundamental understanding and real-world application. I lead interdisciplinary research on advanced oxidation and reduction processes and membrane-based technologies, including vacuum-UV driven processes and membrane distillation. A core focus is controlling water quality risks to end users, such as trace organic contaminants, disinfection by-products, and pathogens, using an integrated system-level perspective. Through European and regional projects, including the Horizon Europe project intoDBP, which I coordinate, as well as RECREATE, OrbiX and DECIDEIX, my work supports water utilities and local and regional authorities.
Selected publications
- Tsiarta N, Gernjak W et al. 2025, 'Impact of ceramic membrane pore size and metal oxide modifications on pharmaceutical degradation in a Hybrid Ozonation-Membrane Filtration reactor', Journal of the european ceramic society, 45 - 15 -117635.
- Zappulla-Sabio B, Gernjak W et al. 2025, 'Membrane Recycling: Exploring Ozone as a Viable Alternative to Chlorine for Polymeric Membrane Transformation', Acs es&t engineering. 5, 11, 3183–3194.
- Tizchang A, Gernjak W et al. 2025, 'Investigating the impact of surfactant-salt feed solution on PTFE membrane performance under varying feed and permeate temperatures in membrane distillation', Chemical engineering research & design, 223 - 776 - 787.
Selected research activities
- Coordinating the intoDBP project on managing disinfection byproducts from source to tap in drinking water.
- Coordinating the edition of catalan guidelines for PFAS contamination control in drinking water.
- Three synergistic projects around the use of alternative water sources, particularly reclaimed water to support sustainable water management in Mediterranean communities, including the Horizon Europe Project RECREATE, the ACA funded DECIDEIX project and a service contract providing Scientific Direction to the AIGUANEIX project for Consorci d'Aigües Costa Brava Girona.
- Ongoing collaboration with Wetsus in the Netherlands and 2 ongoing PhD projects on aspects of advanced water treatment with vacuum UV treatment (Yicheng Wang, Tomàs Lock).
- Finalized in 2025 the iWAYS H2020 project, whereby our contribution was on demonstrating membrane distillation in the context of heavy industry with the associated PhD from Atefeh Tizchang about to be concluded.
- Nikoletta Tsiarta finished her PhD on modified ceramic membranes integrated with ozonation and defended her PhD in 12/2025. Our work was also awarded a Gold Medal at INOVA 2025 – the 49th International Invention Show in the category Engineering/ Materials Science.