Laia Alegret

Full Professor in Paleontology, Universidad de Zaragoza

Fellow (medal 33), of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, RAC

I look into climate changes and other global events of the past by integrating micropaleontological analyses in multidisciplinary studies, to understand the Earth system and how it will react to the current global change. I believe collaboration is key in science, and I am committed to transmitting science to the general public.

BSc (1998) and PhD (2002, and Doctorate extraordinary award) in Geology at the University of Zaragoza. Postdoctoral fellow at University College London (2003-2005). Ramón y Cajal Fellow (2006-2010), Senior Lecturer (2010-2022) and Full Professor (since 2022) at the University of Zaragoza. With 25 research stays in 19 institutions in the USA (Yale, Wesleyan and Colorado Boulder Universities, MIT, Smithsonian Institution), Italy, Poland, Mexico, New Zealand, etc., Alegret has participated in 24 research projects in competitive calls, being the Principal Investigator of 14 (e.g., European Science Foundation, International Union of Geological Sciences, DGICYT). Recipient of the prestigious Leonardo grant ( BBVA Foundation) , she received the Aragonia award in 2023.

Research focused on the application of benthic foraminifera (microfossils) in understanding past ocean and climate changes using marine rocks and sediments. Alegret sailed as a scientist en la Expedición 371 del Programa Internacional de Descubrimiento del Océano IODP  to Zealandia, the hidden continent (SW Pacific Ocean, July-September 2017). Author of more than 200 research publications (including 9 books, and research articles in journals such as Science, PNAS, Geology, Nature Communications and others at the top of their fields), and >220 communications in conferences. With a strong international projection, she is regularly invited as plenary speaker in conferences and research institutions.

Elected Chair of the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy (ISPS) for two consecutive terms (2020-2023, 2024-2027). Adjunct of the Spanish National Research Agency (2017-2019) and the Flemish National Research Foundation (2013-2015), which awarded her the Alfred Curtins medal. Patron of the Duques de Soria Foundation collaborates with the media, from which she has received several awards, and she collaborated with the Spanish Organization of the Blind (ONCE) in the lotto coupon “el Sueldazo” (17/01/2026), of which 5.5 million coupons were printed. Alegret was invited to sign in the book of honor of the University of Zaragoza in 2024. Included in the Innovative Female Scientists Platform of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain