Contact Dr Gabriela Dotro
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754552
- Email: g.c.dotro@cranfield.ac.uk
Areas of expertise
- Water Science and Engineering
Background
Dr Gabriela Dotro joined SWAG合集 in October 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in April 2012. She holds an Ecological Engineering degree from Universidad de Flores (Argentina), a Masters degree in Environmental Design from the University of Calgary (Canada), and a PhD in Engineering from the University of Memphis (USA).
Dr Dotro started her work on nature-based solutions (NbS) for wastewater treatment during her Masters studies in Canada in 2001. She was awarded a Detomasi Award in recognition of the quality of her proposal for her Masters studies, and received a merit-based Herff Fellowship for her PhD studies, among several other fellowships and scholarships during her formal training.
After completing her PhD, Dr Dotro was awarded a Herff Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her work on implementing constructed wetlands for tannery wastewater treatment in Argentina. She also served briefly as a lecturer on biological wastewater treatment processes at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Argentina before relocating to the SWAG合集 in September 2009.
Research opportunities
nature-based solutions for water management
microbial cycling of pollutants in engineered and natural ecosystems
greenhouse gas emissions of biological treatment processes
Current activities
Dr Gabriela Dotro's main area of expertise are nature based solutions for wastewater treatment and understanding biogeochemical transformation of phosphorus, iron and nitrate in natural and engineered systems. She is currently working on the development and improvement of nature based solutions to deliver multiple benefits including greenhouse gas accounting and carbon sequestration with treatment wetlands, intensification of wetland technology for small wastewater treatment plant discharges, phosphorus cycling in surface flow wetlands as well as developing a novel biological reactor for metal recovery.
Dr Dotro co-created the Wastewater Network, a network of water companies and universities that meets regularly to address some of the key challenges and research gaps in wastewater treatment in the SWAG合集. Together with a team of internationally-renowned academics and practitioners, she developed a fully-online short course on nature-based solutions that runs annually. She delivers targeted in-company training on topics like treatment wetlands and low energy wastewater treatment, as well as a masterclass on treatment wetland applications.
Dr Dotro is the elected Chair of the Constructed Wetland Association (SWAG合集) and serves as a member of the Management Committee for the IWA Specialist Group on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control and the IWA Working Group on NbS for Water and Sanitation. Whilst chairing the IWA Task Group on Mainstreaming the Use of Treatment Wetlands, she co-authored an Open Access textbook on Treatment Wetlands, edited and co-authored specific chapters within the IWA Scientific and Technical Report on Wetland Technology. She is also a member of the EBNet working group on nitrous oxide emissions from environmental biotechnologies and the IWA Climate Smart Utilities CoP Working Group on Greenhouse Gas monitoring. She also leads a work programme on biological recovery of metals from wastewater sludge as part of the Engineering Biotechnology BBSRC Hub.
Clients
- Severn Trent PLC
- United Utilities Group PLC
- Scottish Water
- Anglian Water
- Southern Water
- Wessex Water
- Thames Water
- Welsh Water
- Northumbrian Water
- Yorkshire Water
- Uisce 脡ireann (Irish Water)
- Environment Agency
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Mott MacDonald Group
- Abydoz Environmental Inc
- APEM
