Aitor Arbelaiz, Cristina Peña and Ander Larruskain, researchers our group, collaborate with Elhuyar in the project called "Gluoien mahaia". This project, promoted by Elhuyar, has the collaboration of the Department of Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. Under the name "Research for sustainability to inspire young people", the aim is to bring young people closer to the world of research. To this end, with the help of research groups, the young people themselves carry out real research.

The research team of the GMT group has been researching renewable materials for more than 20 years, and one of them is latxa sheep's wool. This type of wool is hardly used nowadays in any sector, and around 2,000 tonnes are generated each year. They have explained this concern to a group of secondary school students from the IES Txindoki in Beasain and have jointly developed composites with latxa sheep's wool as reinforcement that could be used in construction. In a first session they presented the project at the school itself: they explained to the students the aim of the project and the first experimental part. Subsequently, the students were in our laboratories to  develop the mechanical characterization of the specimens obtained and evaluate the results. In a final session, the students will discuss the results with the researchers.

On December 19th, GMT PhD student Julen Diaz Ramirez  presented his doctoral thesis entitled “Valorization of white grape pomace: integrated strategies for advanced applications” supervised by Dr Nagore Gabilondo and Dr Aloña Retegui.

Two researchers from our Group, Laura Vignau and Garazi Berra, had participated in the JIP 2023, XI Congress of Young Researchers in Polymers organized by the specialized group of polymers of the RSEQ and RSEF that was held in Alicante (Spain) from October 2 to 5. They presented the works "Active electrospun poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3- hydroxyvalerate) membranes incorporating antioxidant oil from spent coffee grounds" and "Dynamic redox responsive starch hydrogels" respectively.

Researchers of our group participate in the STEAM-Active project funded by the European Union (2021-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000032107).

The objective of the STEAM-Active project is to generate multidisciplinary teaching and learning sequences for university engineering courses. These sequences will have as transversal axes the circular economy and the gender perspective. In addition, e-learning courses will be generated for the training of teachers interested in the implementation of the designed materials.

Three researchers from our Group, Galder Kortaberria, Agnieszka Tercjak and Junkal Gutierrez, have participated in the POLY-K 2023 conference, “Advances in polymer composites and nanocomposites”, a scientific congress to celebrate the career of Prof. José Kenny. The congress was held in Terni (Italy) from September 13 to 15.

Our Group researcher Agnieszka Tercjak presented a work entitled Self-healable epoxidised soybean oil based thermosetting systems modified with photo-switchable nematic liquid crystal in the conference “Nanostructured Polymers: from precision synthesis to physical properties” presenting the work entitled “”, NANOPOL 2023, in Orléans (France) from September 4th to 8th.

Our pre-doctoral researcher Ana Cristina Restrepo Montoya participated in the 14th International Workshop on Polymer Reaction Engineering, a conference organized by the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA), which took place on September, from 5th to the 8th, in Potsdam, Germany. The presented research work "Synthesis of reprocessable biobased thermoset polyurethanes based on Diels-Alder adduct" is developed under the direction of Dr. Ainara Saralegi and Dr. Arantxa Eceiza; and the work "Functionalized electrospun polyurethane membranes as Ag nanoparticles adsorbents" was developed under the direction of Dr. Nagore Gabilondo and Dr. Arantxa Eceiza.

On July, 21th, GMT PhD student Eider Mendiburu Valor presented her doctoral thesis entlited “Valorization of Marine PET litter. From conventional methods to chemical recycling for the synthesis of novel polyurethanes”, supervised by Dr. Cristina Peña and Dr. Arantxa Eceiza.

In June, the Basque Environment and Ocean Week 2023 (BEOW Talks) was held in Bilbao. On June 6, our colleague Cristina Peña presented some of the GMT investigations related to plastic debris and its treatment possibilities and impacts. Joana Larreta (AZTI) and Amaia Orbea and Manu Soto (PIE-UPV/EHU) also participated in the session organized by Itsasmuseum, the Basque Government and the Ministry of Culture and Sports and called Chemical Pollution. The session was moderated by Eider Bilbao (PIE-UPV/EHU).  

Full session

Our pre-doctoral researcher Ana Cristina Restrepo Montoya participated as a speaker in MATCOMP 2023, a workshop organized by the University of Oviedo, which took place from 13 to 15 June in Gijon, Spain. The presented research work "Bio-based Recyclable crosslinked polyurethanes based on a thermally reversible Diels-Alder Adduct" is developed under the direction of Dra. Ainara Saralegi and la Dra. Arantxa Eceiza.

Our PhD student Garazi Berra González participated in the conference "Frontiers in Polymer Science", organized by Elsevier, from May 29th to June 1st in Gothenburg, Sweden. She presented the posters entitled "Development of Diels-Alder cross-linked starch-based bioadhesives for cellulosic materials" and "Silver and Gold decorated electrospun polyurethane membranes".

The work entitled «Semi-paracrystallinity in semi-conducting polymers», in which two researchers from our group, A. Tercjak and J. Gutierrez, have participated, has been awarded the Materials Horizons Outstanding Paper Award 22.

Our colleague Cristina Peña has given the seminar 'Circular Economy and Materials' at Tecnun School of Engineering (University of Navarra).

The session included the conceptualization of the Circular Economy and its relationship with the consumption of resources related to the synthesis of polymers. Finally, she summarized some of the GMT's advances in recycling processes and the use of agricultural and livestock waste. Finally, she presented the activities developed by the  Circular Economy University-Company Classroom (Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, UPV/EHU, Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa)

On 10 February, the Engineering Faculty of Gipuzkoa held the 2nd Conference on Circular Economy in Engineering organised by the University-Business Classroom of Circular Economy. The conference was attended by more than 10 researchers and collaborators of the School who presented their advances in different areas of engineering and its relation with the Circular Economy. The GMT also participated with presentations by recent PhD researcher Amaia Mendoza, and pre-doctoral students Eider Mendiburu and Asier Elejoste.

Link videos

On March 1st, GMT PhD student Joseba Gómez Hermoso de Mendoza presented his doctoral thesis entitled “Development of nanostructured materials based on cellulose  acetate modified with inorganic nanoparticles” supervised by Dr Agnieszka Tercjak and Dr Junkal Gutierrez.

On December 19th, the GMT PhD student Raquel Olmos presented her doctoral thesis entitled “Biomaterial inks and bioinks for extrusion 3D printing and their biomedical applications in precision medicine” supervised by Dr. Arantxa Eceiza and Dr. Nagore Gabilondo.

On December 15th, the ITENE and GMT PhD student Miriam Gallur presented her doctoral thesis entitled “Development of biodegradable nanostructured polymer materials by using block copolymer for packaging applications” supervised by Dr Susana Aucejo (DS Smith) and Dr Agnieszka Tercjak (GMT).

The initiative 'Engineering services and industrial eco-innovation', winner of the New Innovative Initiative award, focuses on engineering services and industrial eco-innovation. The initiative, Amaia Mendoza and Arancha Agirrezabalaga, was born from the collaboration of the entrepreneurs with the GMT research group of the School of Engineering of Gipuzkoa. The Jury highlighted their know-how and specialisation in the field of microplastics.

The Manuel Laborde Werlinden Awards arise from the Entreprenari Programme, developed and managed by the Gipuzkoa Campus of the University of the Basque Country and the European Business and Innovation Centre BIC Gipuzkoa. Its aim is to promote entrepreneurial ideas and projects in the university environment. The applications submitted in this edition came from teaching and research staff of the University of the Basque Country, graduates, postgraduates or final year students of the University of the Basque Country and companies interested in exploiting the results of research carried out in collaboration with the University of the Basque Country through the creation of a new company.

On 17 November, researcher Amaia Mendoza presented the doctoral thesis “Microplastics on the south-eastern coast of the Gulf of Bizkaia: characteristics, foci and strategies for control and prevention” by Oihane Cabezas. (Azti) and Doc. Cristina Peñas Directed (GMT, UPV/EHU).

This thesis has been developed in collaboration with GMT and AZTI, as well as other collaborators such as the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Aquarium of San Sebastián, the PIVICSA and the AGUA. The thesis has advanced the identification, methodology and analysis of microplastics, as well as their prevention, especially in the industrial sector.

From 10 to 12 November 2022 you can visit in Tabakalera (Donostia) the stands and activities that the UPV/EHU has organized on Science Week. The GMT research group is participating with a stand, called Plastics and Circular Economy in which it presents some of the results of the research developed by different members of the group in the area of recycling. This stand has been organized with the collaboration of the Circular Economy University-Company Classroom (Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, UPV/EHU, Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa). Some of the results presented includes the development of transformation processes and chemical recycling of marine litter (fishing nets, PET bottles, HDPE boats), industrial waste (polyurethane powder derived from the plastics industry, etc.) and industrial waste (polyurethane powder derived from the surf board production) and waste from the primary sector (latxa sheep wool, ear tag).