Tatyana Tabakova received a PhD degree in Chemical kinetics and catalysis from the Institute of Catalysis, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in 1994. She has been a Full Professor at the same institute since 2012. Her research interests involve various aspects of heterogeneous catalysis, such as applying different methods for synthesizing new materials and catalysts and investigating the relationship between the structure and catalytic activity of catalysts, with fundamental and practical applications. Currently, she is interested in the preparation and study of gold catalysts supported on different oxides for reactions with environmental
impact—in particular, clean hydrogen production via water–gas shift and selective CO oxidation reactions, volatile organic compounds, and CO oxidation. She has coordinated and participated in many projects (COST; NATO; bilateral projects with universities and research institutes from Italy, Greece, Spain, Poland, Belgium, China, etc.). She has published over 110 peer-reviewed papers (5K+ citations and an h-index of 38).
Dr. Yordanka Karakirova is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Catalysis, BAS. She completed higher education at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University, in 2005. In 2008, she defended her PhD thesis at the Institute of Catalysis and was awarded a PhD degree. Her main activities and scientific interests are related to electron paramagnetic
resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and UV spectrophotometry, quantitative EPR
spectroscopy, EPR dosimetry, EPR investigation of irradiated foods, free radicals, saccharides, catalysis, and solid-state chemistry. She is the Head of the Center of EPR spectroscopy at the Institute of Catalysis, Chairman of the Bulgarian EPR Society, and a member of the European Federation of EPR Societies and the Bulgarian Catalytic Society. In 2016, she was awarded a National Scholarship of Loreal Bulgaria by the “For the Women in Science” program.
Petya Petrova received her PhD degree in chemistry from the Bulgarian Academy of Science in 2009. Currently, she is a researcher at the "Institute of Catalysis” of the Bulgarian Academy of science. She has experience in preparation and analysis of various samples using different
specific techniques (TPR/TPD/TPO and GH). Her research interests focus on nanostructured gold catalysts for detoxification of air pollutants, including complete hydrocarbons oxidation and NO reduction by CO; pure hydrogen production via WGS and PROX reactions; and investigation of the relationship between the structure and catalytic activity of heterogeneous catalysts for environmental protection.
After completing undergraduate studies in Palermo, Italy, in 1984, she received her PhD
in chemistry from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She spent several years in the USA as a postdoctoral research at the Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In 1990, she was research associate in the Chemistry Department of the University of Palermo. In 2001, she became a Director of Research at the Institute of Nanostructured Material of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), where she was appointed Deputy Director for the Palermo Division from 2014 until 2021. Her research interests span from environmental heterogeneous catalysis to material science, focusing particularly on the structure–activity relationship. She is the author of more than 180 papers in international journals, with an h-index factor of 52 according to Google Scholar.
Leonarda Francesca Liotta is chemist and Director of Research and Deputy Director of the Palermo branch of the Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials (ISMN)-CNR. She is also a member of the Scientific Board of the CNR Department of Chemical Sciences and
Materials Technologies, DSCTM-CNR. She is the co-author of 250 articles in peer-reviewed internal journals, 8 book chapters, and 1 PCT Int. Appl. WO patent. She has contributed to more the 400 international and national conferences and informative works, with and h-index of 54 (Scopus, 2024). She was mentioned in a list of the top 2% most cited scientists in the world published by Stanford University. She has been a researcher at the Universities of Lyon, Lille, Dunkirk, Sorbonne Paris, Valencia, Sevilla, Budapest, Sofia, Tosmk State University, amd Magurele. Her main interests are in the field of heterogeneous catalysis (supported noble metals, transition metal oxides, and inorganic perovskites) and materials science applied to environmental remediation (NO SCR, VOCs, and soot oxidation) and clean energy production/storage (dry/steam reforming, CO2 methanation, SOFCs, SOECs, and batteries).
