SARA GONZALEZ GARCIA

Sara Gonzalez Garcia is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, affiliated with the Higher Technical School of Engineering and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS). She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the same university (2009), supervised by Dr. Gumersindo Feijoo Costa and Dra. Maria Teresa Moreira Vilar, focusing on environmental assessments of wood and non-wood products. Her research emphasizes sustainability evaluation through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint analysis in industrial, agricultural, and food systems.

Key research areas include environmental biotechnology, circular economy, and waste valorization. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers (56 as first author), 8 book chapters, and contributed to 3 PhD theses. Her work bridges environmental science with practical applications, such as optimizing biorefineries, sustainable farming practices, and eco-labeling frameworks for the hospitality sector. She leads the BIOGROUP (Environmental Biotechnology Research Group) and has received the prestigious Agustin de Betancourt y Molina Medal (2016) for young researchers.

Her academic contributions span international collaborations and policy-relevant studies, including assessments of municipal carbon footprints and the environmental impact of dietary patterns. Current projects focus on multi-criteria sustainability indicators for urban systems and advancing bio-based economies through circular principles.