Dr Juliana Segura-Salazar

Dr Juliana Segura-Salazar is eager to develop holistic approaches toward a more sustainable supply of primary and secondary raw materials.

Research Interests

Juliana’s research interests are sustainability, circular economy, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches and system/process modelling, and simulation related to the minerals industry. She has had leadership roles in applied research projects in the mining sector involving different commodities such as iron ore, aggregates, lead and antimony ores.

Background

Juliana holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the School of Chemical Engineering at Universidad del Valle (Colombia). She moved to Brazil in 2011 to follow a challenging — yet rewarding — path involving postgraduate studies and part-time involvement as a Research Assistant at the Laboratório de Tecnologia Mineral. Juliana obtained both a Master of Science and a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). During the last stage of her PhD, Juliana moved to London to work for approximately two years as a Research Assistant at the Advanced Mineral Processing Research Group (AMPRG), as part of the Horizon 2020 IMPaCT project. Since 2021, Juliana has worked as an independent consultant for the critical review of Life Cycle Assessment studies in the extractive sector. Juliana joined the Sustainable Minerals Institute in 2022. Her multidisciplinary work in the Development Minerals Program and the Advanced Process Prediction and Control Group (APPCo) within the JKMRC aims at addressing the global sustainability challenges related to sand supply and mine waste minimisation through innovation (i.e. ore-sands).

Collaborations

Juliana collaborates with Dr Pablo Brito-Parada as an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering (ESE), Imperial College London. Juliana is the spokesperson from the ESE Department and a Steering Committee member of the Imperial Network of Excellence in Sustainability through Life Cycle Approaches.

As a consultant, Juliana has performed external critical reviews for LCA studies developed by Minviro over various mineral commodities.

Juliana has established fruitful relationships with researchers and industry partners in the minerals industry in Brazil and Europe. She also collaborates with researchers from the University of Exeter and the French Geological Survey (BRGM) in preparing high-quality research outcomes. Juliana looks forward to creating partnerships with academia, industry, organisations, and other stakeholders globally, establishing closer links with Latin America.

Industry Engagement

As a Research Assistant in Brazil, Juliana led and co-led various projects and collaborated with multinational mining companies such as Vale and Anglo American. As part of the Horizon 2020 IMPaCT project, Juliana established good relationships with project partners, including European companies from the mining sector.