Affiliation: University of Seville, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, 41012 Seville, Spain

Alberto Romero is Professor in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad de Sevilla, with a Degree in Chemistry, and a Master’s in Industrial Chemistry. In 2005, he was awarded a grant (FPU-grant) by the Spanish government to develop his PhD thesis, which was presented in 2009 and received the European Doctor degree and an Honourable mention in the Iberian Award to the most Distinguished PhD thesis (2009-2011). He carried out postdoctoral research at Leuven University under the supervision of Professor Jan Vermant, at the University of Lorraine, and as a visiting Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Department of Chemical Engineering). He leads the Ibero-American network of investigation about the valorization of food by-products and waste (VALORAL) with more than 20 research groups from 11 different countries. He has supervised two awarded PhD theses and more than 15 MSc degree students. Currently, he supervises three PhD theses and acts as reviewer for different scientific journals. He has taken part in more than 20 R+D projects, is author of 2 patents, more than 20 international book chapters, and 100 articles in indexed journals. He has been awarded different research prizes in his career. His main research activities have been focused on the development of products with tailored microstructure and functionality (e.g., complex interfacial fluid-fluid layers, protein-based emulsions, dispersions and gels, protein-polysaccharide matrices, and scaffolds for tissue engineering). Particular emphasis has been given to the relationships between material processing, rheology, and microstructure and their implications in potential food applications.