Dr Guillermo Zaragoza holds a PhD in Physics and is director of Plataforma Solar de Almería, a centre of the Spanish research organisation CIEMAT, and director of the Sustainable Desalination Living Lab. He has previously held academic positions at the University of Oxford and the Spanish National Research Council.

He is a board director of the European Desalination Society, an ambassador of Water Europe and leader of its Expert Group on Desalination. He also co-leads the Desalination and Photosynthesis R&D unit of CIESOL, a joint centre of the University of Almería and CIEMAT, and represents Spain on the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s Technology Collaboration Programme on Heat Pumping Technologies.

His research focuses on the application of solar energy to desalination within the water, energy and food nexus, supported by extensive academic experience and participation in international research and innovation projects.