Clara Gomes graduated in Chemistry and finished a MSc in Organic Chemistry in 2003, at the University of Coimbra. In 2009, she completed a PhD in Chemistry, with specialization in Organometallic Chemistry, at Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade Técnica de Lisboa), under the supervision of Dr. Pedro T. Gomes. From 2010 to2018, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Centro de Química Estrutural (IST), where she continued to work on the development of new organometallic/coordination catalytic systems for polymerization of olefins and in the application of boron molecules as luminescent materials. In November 2018, she moved to NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), in the Single Crystal X-ray Crystallography Service, hired, after a competitive call, by the Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde (LAQV) Research Unit. Since then, she has been implementing and managing the Structure Determination Service and the X-ray Facility as the new Service Responsible and Service Scientist. In May 2021, she was appointed Assistant Researcher at LAQV and co-head of the Coordination and Organometallic Chemistry Laboratory of the Molecular Synthesis group. Her research spans the areas of synthetic coordination/organometallic chemistry, whenever possible employing green chemistry synthetic methodologies, such as mechanochemistry, catalysis, and supramolecular chemistry. Aside from the extensive synthetic and catalytic work experience, she also possesses hands-on experience in several characterization techniques, such as NMR spectroscopy, powder and single crystal X-ray Diffraction (PXRD and SCXRD), IR- and UV-Visible spectroscopies, and, to some extent, DFT calculations.
She has been successful in obtaining funding. In 2018, she was awarded a 238k project (PTDC/QUI-QIN/31585/2017) as Principal Investigator. Although she became co-PI due to the change in her professional affiliation from IST-ULisboa to LAQV-FCT NOVA, she still assumed coordination duties. The project finished on September 30th, 2023, being evaluated as Excellent. She is/was a team member in 15 other projects, including the Horizon Europe project IMPACTIVE (nr. 101057286) and COST Actions CA18112, CA21101, CA22107 and CA22147. In COST Action CA18112, she had leadership roles in the Core Group as Gender Balance Coordinator and Grant Awarding Coordinator.
Since 2008, she has been involved in teaching activities keeping regular support to 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles in Chemistry and X-ray diffraction curricular units. She also teaches regularly at advanced courses and workshops, and was in the jury of 23 examinations, including PhD, being the main examiner in 18.
The career path includes 4 stays out of the country (Liverpool, Durham, Paris, and Zagreb) either for research activities or training that have strengthened the scientific results and promoted international collaborations.
In the year 2022, she faced a challenge with a broken right arm that required surgical intervention for inclusion of a prosthesis, leading to 8 months of medical leave (3 months full-time and 5 months partial time). Despite this obstacle, she made a strong effort to maintain work standards and the pursuit of knowledge.
CV summary: 82 papers plus 1 submitted (>1040 citations and h-index 19, SCOPUS ID 24343503400, August 2023), 2 book chapters, 1 encyclopaedia entry and 2 datasets, 2 patents, 31 oral communications (15 invited and 16 co-authored) and co-authored 74 poster communications. (Co-)supervision of 22 students: 1 postdoctoral research-fellow, 2 PhD in Sustainable Chemistry (started in April 2022 and January 2023, respectively), 4 MSc and 1 ongoing (started in September 2022), 15 BSc (3 started in January 2024), 4 internships and 1 MSc research fellow.
See detailed Curriculum Vitae here!