The ISGS RENATA REISFELD PHD STUDENT FELLOWSHIP FOR WOMEN IN SOL-GEL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY recognizes outstanding contributions made by women who are currently undertaking their PhD in the field of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. This Fellowship, first awarded in 2021, was created to celebrate the life and achievements of a sol-gel pioneer who has made a tremendous contribution to sol-gel science and technology during her career spanning over half a century.
The Board of the ISGS is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025 ISGS Renata Reisfeld PhD Student Fellowship for Women in Sol-Gel Science and Technology is Sofia Moreira Fernandes, whose PhD research was undertaken at the Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
Her work to date has focused on the development of solar-light responsive photocatalytic systems, for the remediation of pharmaceutical wastewater — a challenge positioned at the intersection of sol-gel materials chemistry, environmental science, and sustainability. Her research contributed to the development of a versatile sol–gel pathway, exploiting polymerization-induced phase separation, for the production of microspheres with interconnected controlled macroporosity (MICROSCAFS®) and microwave-assisted sol-gel reactions for engineering TiO₂ nanoparticles. The scientific impact of her work is already evident, with thirteen peer-reviewed publications, including two first-author papers. One of these was featured in a “Pioneering Women in Water Research” special issue published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, which ranks in the 98th percentile for citations. Her work has been published in Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering Journal, among others. This research has now been directly applied for the degradation, into non-toxic products, of the antibiotic minocycline produced by the major pharmaceutical industry (Hovione S.A.) in Portugal.
Congratulations, Sophia! We look forward to enjoying your future successes within the international sol-gel community.
