Postdoctoral researcher Anna Salvian from the Environmental Biotechnology Group (Bioe) has received a fellowship through the highly competitive Fulbright Schuman programme. Starting October 2026, she will spend 9 months at The Johns Hopkins University, under the academic mentorship of Dr Ruggero Rossi, assistant professor of environmental health and engineering.

Dr Salvian will work innovating at the forefront of technology in the water sector and representing Europe across the Atlantic.

“I am deeply honoured to have been selected, and I look forward to being a cultural bridge between the EU and the US”, she said. Together with other grantees, she attended the welcome reception held in Brussels on early June.

Created in 1946, the Fulbright Schuman Programme is administered by the Fulbright Commission in Belgium and is jointly financed by the U.S. Department of State and the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG.EAC) of the European Commission. Grants can be awarded to candidates from any of the 27 EU member states for a period of up to nine months and are open to all academic fields, however, the topic of research must have a strong EU component.

As a postdoctoral researcher at IMDEA Water Institute, Anna Salvian works on the digitalization of the water sector, though the integration of bioelectrochemical sensors with AI tools to improve the availability of clean water and increase the sustainability of water treatment processes. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Surrey (UK, 2025), a master’s degree in Food Science with a specialization in applied engineering and genetics from the Free University of Bozen (Italy, 2021), and a BSc in Food Science and Technology from the University of Udine (Italy, 2019).