The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) is pleased to announce the incorporation of Dr. Jesús San José Orduna as a Junior Leader “La Caixa”. His international trajectory and extensive experience in organometallic chemistry, catalysis, microfluidics and automation will bring strategic scientific value to the institute.
About Dr. Jesús San José Orduna
Jesús (Granollers, Barcelona) completed his BSc and MSc studies at the University of Barcelona with Profs. Vilarrasa and Costa before joining ICIQ for his PhD under the guidance of Prof. Pérez‑Temprano. After completing his PhD, he carried out a short postdoctoral stay in the group of Prof. Martin (ICIQ) before moving to the University of Amsterdam as a Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. Noël. He later continued his postdoctoral career at Imperial College London, working with Prof. Hii and contributing to the spin‑out company Solve Chemistry.
In his return to ICIQ as Junior Leader, Jesús aims to integrate a multidisciplinary research approach that brings together organometallics, microfluidics, machine learning and robotics. His work will focus on automating the discovery of sustainable chemical transformations, with particular interest in the scalable recycling of harmful pollutants into useful chemical products.
When did you decide to become a scientist and why?
During my PhD, I experienced first-hand how profoundly a good mentor can shape someone’s career path. That impact made me want to stay in science, not only to pursue interesting scientific ideas, but to someday offer others the same support I was given.
Advice to young researchers:
Being a scientist means much more than “just” doing scientific experiments: the hands-on problem-solving and the colleagues, mentors and students around you shape your development just as much as the science itself.
Why do you choose ICIQ for your next step?
Choosing ICIQ feels like coming home. I’m grateful to return to a place where I’ve grown as a person and a scientist, surrounded by mentors, colleagues, and friends who have believed in me. It’s a chance to give back to the community that shaped me.
What impact would you like your research to have?
My main goal is to be part of the shift toward automating chemical processes, so researchers can spend more time thinking and less time on repetitive steps.
If there were a motto hanging at your lab’s door, what would it be?
If a robot can run it, we shouldn’t.
Grant description
The Incoming modality of the Junior Leader Fellowships offered by “la Caixa” Foundation aims to hire excellent researchers to carry out their projects at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu excellence award, Institutos de Salud Carlos III and R&D units classified as Excellent by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of Portugal.
The recipients of the Junior Leader Fellowships are experienced researchers whose performance is outstanding in terms of the originality and significance of their contributions in their scientific discipline. They also have the leadership potential to head their own research group.
By offering a complementary training programme, these fellowships are intended to establish comprehensive training encompassing scientific, technical, and complementary skills that will help them to tap into their potential as independent researchers in the new generation of science leaders.
The project that gave rise to these results received the support of a fellowship from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434). The fellowship code is LCF/BQ/PI25/12100037.
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