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Raúl has directed the Applied Research Group in Agrochemistry and the Environment at the UMH for 16 years, as well.

Extensive research activity (5 six-year terms and 130 articles in SCI magazines, 13 doctoral theses, 50 theses, final year master’s projects), in the environment of the circular economy, waste management, agricultural use of organic waste and composting, development of substrates and bioproducts and the evaluation of their use in environmental, economic and technological terms. According to SCOPUS (ID 7003335805), he has an H index of 37, with his publications having been cited more than 4000 times. His paper “Utilisation of manure composts by high-value crops: safety and environmental challenges” published in Bioresource Technology (2009) is the most recent cited paper (700 times) of the UMH, which is in turn the 4th most cited Spanish university. Editor and author of a chapter of the book “Compostaje” . Ed. Mundi-Prensa, (978-84-8476-346-8), first book in Spanish on composting by an international publisher. Also editor and author of the collection “De Residuo a Recurso: el camino de la Sostenibilidad”, with 16 volumes and 6,000 volumes sold.

The funding obtained is significant (gathering competitive research resources of more than 1.5 million euros in the last 15 years), highlighting five CICYT-RETOS projects, four European projects. The group has been involved in unique projects such as the PSE acronym PROBIOGAS on the energy recovery of agri-food and livestock waste; MMA project on the development of compost and substrates based on sewage sludge; ReUseWaste project type ITN Marie Curie as associated partner in livestock waste management, etc.

He collaborates strongly with the Generalitat Valenciana in community composting and decentralization of household waste, also advising different consortiums such as COR-V5, where he is part of the technical committee. Raúl has dynamized more than 100 agro composting tests and is tasked with the community composting inventory in the Valencian Community.

This group also has registered in the MAGRAMA 7 compost-type fertilizer products as a demonstrative exercise of transfer in different projects.

Raúl is an active member of scientific-technical committees such as:

• FAO ESCORENA Network on the Recycling of Agricultural, Municipal and Industrial Residues in Agriculture, RAMIRAN, as members of the Working Group “Composting and Transformation of Wastes”
• Spanish Composting Network (founding member, current coordinator of said Network and member of the executive committee and head of the teaching area).
• Red REMEDIA, Scientific Network for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the agroforestry sector (member of the scientific committee). Also a regular reviewer of more than 12 SCI journals (Bioresource Technology, Waste Management. Journal of Soil and Sediment Contamination; Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, Water Research, Environmental Pollution, Applied Clay Science, etc.), and evaluators of R&D projects at an international, national and regional level. He has participated in 3 COST projects, on environmental pollution.