CV HIGHLIGHTS

Antonio Aguilar-Garrido is a soil scientist specializing in pollution and remediation of mining-impacted environments. He holds a degree in Environmental Sciences and a master’s degree in Conservation, Management and Restoration of Biodiversity, both from the University of Granada (Spain). He completed a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Granada in 2024, supported by the competitive FPU Predoctoral Fellowship of the Spanish Government. In 2025, his PhD thesis received the award for Best PhD Thesis in Soil Science from the Spanish Society of Soil Science. This research, conducted in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry under the supervision of Professor F. J. Martín Peinado (fjmartin@ugr.es), focused on the development of constructed Technosols – engineered soils made from urban, agricultural and mining wastes – for the remediation of water and soils polluted by potentially toxic elements (PTEs) (e.g., As, Cu, Pb, Zn). He employed an integrative methodology combining soil properties, enzymatic activity, and toxicological bioassays to evaluate PTEs-induced toxicity and promote nature-based remediation solutions.

As part of his PhD, he carried out a three-month research stay at the LEAF (Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food) research centre (University of Lisbon, Portugal) under the supervision of Professor M. M. Abreu (manuelaabreu@isa.utl.pt). This stay, supported by the FPU mobility grant, deepened his knowledge of soil remediation and sustainable land management in Mediterranean environments.

Aguilar-Garrido is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Environmental Soil Science, Chemistry and Agricultural Technology research group at the Technical University of Cartagena (Spain). He is part of the Horizon Europe project SOILPROM working team, under the supervision of Dr. M. N. González Alcaraz (nazaret.gonzalez@upct.es). Recently, he was awarded the competitive Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Spanish Government, which will allow him to continue his work with the group for the next two years, contributing to this and other ongoing projects and advancing his research on the functional and ecotoxicological response of PTEs-polluted soils under climate change scenarios. This position enables him to further develop his expertise in soil science while collaborating within an international, multidisciplinary team addressing key environmental challenges.

He has teaching experience in various subjects, including (i) The Physical Environment, (ii) Soil Science, (iii) Methods for the Study of the Natural Environment, and (iv) Soil Evaluation, Management, Conservation, and Recovery Techniques, in the degrees of Biology and Environmental Sciences (University of Granada). He has also mentored some final degree and master’s degree projects (3 BSc, 6 MSc).

He is the author of 13 JCR-indexed articles, 9 as first author (6 Q1, 2 Q2, 1 Q3) and 4 as co-author (1 Q1, 2 Q2, 1 Q4) and currently has an h-index of 7 with 128 citations (Google Scholar). He has also authored 6 book chapters and has presented his work through multiple posters and oral communications at national and international conferences such as the meetings of the EUROSOIL, European Geosciences Union (EGU), Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), and Spanish Soil Science Society (SECS).

Actively engaged in the scientific community, he co-led thematic sessions at the EGU General Assembly (2022: SSS7.4, 2023: SSS7.7) and contributed to the organization of the XXXII National Meeting of Soils, RENS2019. He also serves as a reviewer for high-impact journals such as Science of the Total Environment (Q1), Plant and Soil (Q1), Scientific Reports (Q1), Environmental Geochemistry and Health (Q2), Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (Q3), and the International Journal of Environmental Research (Q3).

Research topics: Soil Science, Environmental Sciences, Water, Pollution, Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs), Toxicity Assessment, Waste Valorization, Constructed Technosols, and Circular Economy.

If you would like to get in touch with me feel free to email me at antonio.aguilarg@upct.es. You may find me on ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Google Scholar, and ORCID.

Oct 2019 – Jun 2024. PhD in Earth of Sciences. University of Granada (Spain).

Oct 2018 – Jul 2019. Master of Science in Conservation, Management and Restoration of Biodiversity. University of Granada (Spain).

Sep 2013 – Jan 2018. Degree in Environmental Sciences. University of Granada (Spain).

Jan 2025 – Present. Postdoctoral researcher. Department of Agronomic Engineering. Higher Technical School of Agronomic Engineering. Technical University of Cartagena (Spain).

Oct 2019 – Oct 2023. Predoctoral researcher. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry. University of Granada (Spain).

Sep 2021 – Dec 2021. Predoctoral researcher (PhD short stay). Research centre LEAF – Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food. Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal).

May 2019 – Jul 2019. Research intern (MsC internship). Food Chain Economics Area. Andalusian Institute for Research and Training in Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Ecological Production (IFAPA). Andalusian government (Spain).

Nov 2016 – Sep 2019. Student intern. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry. University of Granada (Spain).

2026 – 2028. Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship (Call 2024). Granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (State Research Agency).

2025. Best PhD Thesis in Soil Science in Spain (Call 2025). Awarded by the Spanish Society of Soil Science (SECS).

2022, 2023. Roland Schlich Travel Support of the European Geosciences Union. Awarded by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) to participate on-site in its general assembly held in Vienna in 2022 and 2023, presenting some results of my research line.

2022. Grant for Attendance at Conferences – UGR 2022. Granted by the School of Science, Technology and Engineering Doctoral Studies – UGR to participate on-site in European Geosciences Union general assembly held in Vienna in 2022.

2021. Mobility grant of the University Teacher Training Program (FPU). Granted by the Spanish Ministry of Universities.

2019 – 2023. FPU. Formación de Profesorado Universitario Predoctoral Fellowship (Call 2018). Granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

2019. End-of-degree Award in Environmental Sciences. Academic year 2017/2018. Granted by the University of Granada (Spain).

2019. Collaboration grant of the XXXII Reunión Nacional De Suelos. Awarded by the Spanish Society of Soil Sciences (SECS) to participate on-site in the congress “XXXII REUNIÓN NACIONAL DE SUELOS (RENS 2019)” held in Seville, presenting some results of my research line.            

2018. Best Final Degree Project Award in Environmental Sciences of Andalusia of 2017. Granted by the Professional Association of Graduates in Environmental Sciences of Andalusia (COAMBA) for the project titled “Comparative study of the capacity of arsenic adsorption between the horizons of a peatland soil”.

2016 – 2017. Collaboration grant in university departments. Granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport to carry out the final degree project and getting started in scientific research.

2024 – 2028. SOILPROM, Modelling pollutant transport across the soil-water-atmosphere continuum and impacts on ecosystem services (101156589).

– Funded by: European Research Executive Agency.

– Funding programme: HORIZON-MISS-2023-SOIL-01-02.

– Principal investigators: Coen Ritsema (Wageningen University, The Netherlands); Leader at Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), Spain: María Nazaret González Alcaraz.

– Carried out by: Environmental Soil Science, Chemistry and Agricultural Technology research group of the UPCT.

– Amount financed: 6,847,325 € in total (563,793.75 € for UPCT). 12 partners.

– Role: Team member (Postdoctoral researcher hired by the project at UPCT).

2021 – 2024. Heavy metals in soils of mining industrial areas: distribution, forms, impacts on soil microorganisms, bioindication and bioremediation aspects of soil contamination (ФЗ-2020092567 (413)).

– Funded by: Ministry of Innovative Development. Tashkent, Uzbekistán.

– Principal investigators: Nosir Shukurov (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Uzbekistan) & Francisco José Martín Peinado (University of Granada, Spain).

– Carried out by: Institute of Geology and Geophysics (Uzbekistan) & Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry – UGR.

– Amount financed: 276.388,00 €

– Role: Collaborator.

2019 – 2021. Restoration of soils contaminated by heavy metals: a strategy based on waste revalorisation and bioremediation (RTI 2018-094327-B-I00).

– Funded by: Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

– Funding programme: Call 2018 for R+D+i projects “Research challenges”, of the State R+D+i programme oriented to societal challenges.

– Principal investigators: Inmaculada García Romera (Spanish National Research Council – CSIC, Spain) & Francisco José Martín Peinado (University of Granada – UGR, Spain).

– Carried out by: Estación Experimental del Zaidín – CSIC & Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry – UGR

– Amount financed: 217.800,00 €

– Role: Team member (I developed my PhD Thesis within the framework of this project).

2019 – 2021. Improvement of the laboratory equipment of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry for a consolidation of interdisciplinarity in applied research in degraded agroecosystems (EQC2019-005591-P).

– Funded by: Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology.

– Funding programme: State sub-programme for research infrastructures and scientific-technical equipment.

– Principal investigators: Francisco José Martín Peinado (University of Granada, Spain).

– Carried out by: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry – UGR

– Amount financed: 118.599,00 €

– Role: Collaborator.

Press mentions

Entrevista a Antonio Aguilar Garrido, doctorando de la Universidad de Granada.

Boletín semestral de la Sociedad Española de la Ciencia del Suelo (SECS): NEWS-SECS 2020. 20. Jan. 2020.

https://secs.com.es/wp-content/news/secs_20/mobile/index.html#p=25

La UGR gana el tercer premio en el Curso y Concurso Nacional de Interpretación de Suelos en Campo.

Canal UGR. Jul 12. 2019. https://canal.ugr.es/noticia/ugr-gana-premio-interpretacion-suelos-en-campo/

Ideal. Jul 12. 2019. https://www.ideal.es/miugr/gana-tercer-premio-20190712181622-nt.html