After finishing her bachelor´s degree in chemistry in the University of the Basque Country Dr. Erkizia carried out her PhD in inorganic chemistry in the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) (USA). During her doctoral studies Dr. Erkizia also worked as “teaching assistant” teaching laboratory classes at UNR. After finishing her PhD (2000), she got a grant from the Basque Government to work as a post-doc in the research group lead by Fernando Cossio, in the organic department of the Faculty of Chemistry in the University of the Basque Country. Following her post-doc years, she joined Labein in 2003 which later became Tecnalia. Since then, she has been researching cement-based materials and their properties and working in the synthesis of (nano)materials as additions to cement to improve its properties and/or to give new functionalities (e.g., self-healing). She has experience in sol-gel synthesis, in particular the synthesis of silica microcapsules encapsulating different molecules such as epoxy adhesives and studying their self-healing applicability in cement-based materials. She has several publications as result of the above research and a patent application for a self-healing cementitious material. Dr. Erkizia has also collaborated with Dr. Cyril Aymonier from the Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux (ICMCB-CNRS, University of Bordeaux and Bordeaux INP) in the synthesis of different nanoparticles such as calcium silicate hydrate nanoparticles using supercritical fluids in order to study their effect in the hydration and the properties of the cement paste.

Furthermore, lately Dr. Erkizia has been working on the development of cement-based materials with thermal energy storage properties as well as on the development of more sustainable high performance and ultra high-performance concretes using lower carbon footprint cements and steel and polymer-based fibres for marine environment.

Dr. Erkizia has participated in a number of different research projects at international as well as national level. She is currently coordinating a European project from Horizon Europe programme, Natursea-PV, which objective is the development of ultra high-performance concrete with eco-cements and recycled fibres to use as material to produce an offshore substructure for photovoltaics. She has publications on the field of cement-based materials (h-index=12), has given talks in different conferences and she has co-supervised 3 PhD theses. She has also participated as inventor on 4 patents. Moreover, she is part of the Laboratory for Trans-border Cooperation on Green Concrete (LTC Green Concrete) which is a collaborative research network among the Bordeaux University and University of the Basque Country and several research centres from Bordeaux and the Basque Country (https://greenconcretelab.com/). The LTC Green Concrete is led by Dr. Jorge S. Dolado from the part of the Basque Country and Dr. Cyril Aymonier from the part of Bordeaux.

Dr. Erkizia has also carried out peer-review activities for several journals and she has participated during two years in the Inspira STEAM project coordinated by Deusto University where she gave talks to disseminate science to 11-13 years old schoolgirls.