Ana Rita Silva

Ana Rita Silva is an Invited Auxiliary Researcher at the Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho (Portugal), a position held since September 2023. Previously, she served as a Research Fellow at the same institution (2022-2035) and conducted PhD research on micropollutant biodegradation. Her work bridges environmental engineering and nanotechnology to develop sustainable water treatment solutions for industrial and pharmaceutical contaminants.

Educational Background:

• PhD in Micro/Nanotechnology, University of Minho (2017-2023)
• Master’s degree in Micro/Nanotechnology, University of Minho School of Engineering (2013-2016)
• Bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering, Instituto Politécnico do Porto (2010-2013)

Dr. Silva’s research centers on advanced water remediation, with dual expertise in biological processes and nanomaterial applications. She pioneers anaerobic digestion optimization for textile/pharmaceutical wastewater using carbon-based nanomaterials, while developing visible-light photocatalysts for dye degradation. Her ecotoxicity assessments ensure treatment safety by evaluating pollutant transformation products. Current work integrates machine learning for predictive modeling of adsorption processes and investigates PFAS bioremediation—a critical frontier in water safety.

Analysis of her 2022-2025 publications reveals dominant themes: (1) carbon nanomaterial-enhanced anaerobic digestion for micropollutant removal, (2) visible-light photocatalysis using ferrite nanoparticles, and (3) wastewater-based epidemiology for public health monitoring. Over 60% of recent work focuses on PFAS/pharmaceutical degradation, reflecting urgent environmental priorities.

Scientific Awards:

• Scholarship Papers@USA (2022)
• FLAD Scholarship for 2018 International Workshop for Global Sustainability (2018)

Dr. Silva leads the Blue Bioeconomy Pact - Textile Vertical project (NextGenerationEU, 2023-present), advancing circular economy solutions for textile wastewater. Previous grants include Move2LowC (COMPETE 2020, 2022-2023) for low-carbon bioremediation and SARS Control (COMPETE 2020, 2021-2022) addressing pandemic-linked water quality. Her foundational FCT grant (2017-2021) enabled PhD research on nanomaterial-enhanced biodegradation.

Affiliated with the Centre of Biological Engineering at University of Minho, she collaborates with INRAE (Bordeaux) on metabolomics and maintains active roles in FEMS and FEBS. Her lab specializes in anaerobic bioreactor systems, nanomaterial synthesis, and high-throughput ecotoxicity screening, with future work targeting scalable PFAS destruction technologies.