The Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS) has recently become involved in the Iberoamerican Network of Clays, Health and Environment (Red Arsalma), an international research platform that aims to analyze clay materials from a sustainable perspective. The use of these non-renewable natural resources is of growing interest to Arsalma in areas such as health and the environment, and therefore its members aim to promote the study of clay materials, creating synergies between different scientific, technological and social centers. In total, 21 groups from nine Latin American countries are participating (Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela), including ICMS. The aim is to maintain permanent links in order to organize scientific activities, specialization courses or workshops to share the research carried out. To date, Arsalma groups have been involved in 88 R&D projects, have published nearly 400 articles and have filed 22 patents.
The coordinator of the Arsalma Network in Andalusia is Professor César Viseras (in the photo), from the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (IACT), based in Granada. Along with the IACT, another center attached to the CSIC, the ICMS, in which Dr. María Dolores Alba Carranza works, also participates. Through regular meetings, Arsalma tries to broaden its scope of cooperation, making available to its members the instrumental techniques and methodologies available at the different facilities. Thus, in September 2010, the ICMS hosted an assembly with the aim of advancing these objectives and proposed for the program of common activities the postgraduate course “Structure determination of real solids: nuclear magnetic resonance techniques”, which is directed by María Dolores Alba. Arsalma also plans to launch an online course specializing in “Clays, health and environment”, as well as a “Workshop”, where members can present the results obtained in their various research projects.