
Heras Domingo, Javier
Lecturer
Catalysis, energy and environment
Born in Barcelona, he is a chemist with a strong focus on materials science, catalysis, and artificial intelligence. His research sits at the intersection of computational chemistry and machine learning, with a growing emphasis on Digital Chemistry and automated discovery. He earned his degree in Chemistry with a specialization in Materials Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Mariona Sodupe and Prof. Xavier Solans-Monfort, investigating RuO₂ catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. A research stay at ETH Zurich with Prof. Christophe Copéret contributed to the international distinction of his doctorate. He later joined Prof. Zachary Ulissi’s group at Carnegie Mellon University (2020), working on AI-driven discovery of oxide catalysts in collaboration with Meta AI and the University of Toronto. From 2023 to 2025, he was a postdoctoral researcher at ICIQ with Prof. Núria López. In 2025, he was appointed Lecturer at the University of Barcelona (UB), continuing his research in AI-guided catalysis and automation.