Jelena Radjenovic

Jelena Radjenovic graduated in Biochemical Engineering at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, in 2004. She obtained a PhD cum laude from the University of Barcelona, Spain, in 2009. From 2009 to 2014 she was working as a research fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia. In 2014, Jelena relocated to the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) in Girona, Spain, with a Marie-Curie fellowship. She was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant ELECTRON4WATER in 2016 to develop new nanostructured electrode materials for electrochemical water treatment. Since 2018, she is an ICREA Research Professor. In 2023, she was awarded with ERC Proof of Concept grant GRAPHEC to work towards upscaling the technology developed and patented within the ELECTRON4WATER project, focused on electrochemical degradation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using graphene sponge electrodes. She was also recently awarded European Innovation Council (EIC) Grant FOREVER WATER, which will enable her team to advance the technological readiness level of this technology and take first steps towards its commercialisation. In addition, Jelena is leading an ERC Consolidator Grant ELECTROmonoLITH, dedicated to the development of electrochemical systems for the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from industrial wastewaters and brines. Additionally, in 2021 Jelena was awarded the FCRi Catalan National Research Award for Young Talent, the highest research recognition in Catalonia (Catalonia receives >40% of ERC grants in Spain).

Jelena´s research interests are at the interface of electrochemistry, nanotechnology, (waste)water treatment, resource recovery and environmental chemistry, focused on the development of advanced treatment systems for energy-efficient removal of persistent and toxic pollutants from water and resource recovery.