Draft:Marta Schuhmacher

Marta Schuhmacher is a professor of environmental technology at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.

Career
Schuhmacher did her degree in Chemistry (1976) and completed her Ph.D. in 1990 from Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. Later, she also did a master's in engineering and environmental management from School of Industrial Organization, Ministry of Industry and Energy, Madrid, Spain (1995).

She has been teaching at DEQ since 1993, and in 2009, she became a professor or Catedrática. Since 2015, she has been a distinguished professor at URV. She served as the director of the AGA Research Group (Environmental Analysis and Management) of the Chemical Engineering department of the Rovira i Virgili University and the Tecnatox center till 2023.

As of 2024 she is a full professor of environmental technology at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Research
Schuhmacher is known for her work in the environmental and human health risks associated with exposure to environmental chemicals

Among the publications to highlight during this stage is the book: "Integrated Life-Cycle and Risk Assessment for Industrial Processes" Guido Sonneman, Marta Schuhmacher, Francesc Castells, 2 editions (2003, 2018) (SpringerLink). Also, an article was published as the result of an initiative of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) “ USEtox—the UNEP-SETAC toxicity model: Recommended characterization factors for a human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment (SpringerLink). From the work carried out for more than 3 years, a consensus scientific model was published which represents the updated recommended practice. This was a major advance in the application of LCA studies. Another research field of Dr. Schuhmacher has focused on the development of innovative techniques for risk assessment, and their application to new and emerging chemical compounds, and very particularly to that of mixtures. This novel area represents a major advance in risk assessment and includes new strategies and methods in toxicity testing, such as “in silico” (computational methods) and “in vitro” (omics techniques) models, as well as the use of innovative methods in data processing (ScienceDirect,   ScienceDirect, PMC). One of the remarkable achievements of Dr. Schuhmacher is to be part of the European Network of Excellence Human Biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU) recently re-established as the European partnership for the assessment of risks from chemicals (PARC) which supports local, national, and European authorities for regulating and managing the risk of chemical products. The aim of the network is to address the security challenges of current and emerging chemical compounds and generate a transition towards a newer methodology for the assessment of risks (Next generation risk assessment -NGRA). This has allowed Dr. Schuhmacher to establish close collaboration with European Agencies such as: the European Environment Agency (EPA), European Chemicals Agency-ECHA (ECHA), European Food Safety Authorities (EFSA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Schuhmacher is known for her work in examining pollution, specifically suspended particulate matter, in schools. She has also examined the presence of microplastics in marine systems.

Awards and honors
Schuhmacher received recognition with the President Macià work medal in 2023.