Meet our Project Coordinator, ITC and Irina Celades leading BRISA towards safer industry
Updated: 2 days ago
Industrial progress depends on people, so does industrial safety. Behind every new material, production process and digital tool are workers whose health needs to be part of the design.
That is the challenge at the heart of BRISA. The project is coordinated by AICE – Asociación de Investigación de las Industrias Cerámicas (Ceramics Industries Research Association), operating through the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC). With Dr Irina Celades López as Project Coordinator, ITC is bringing research and industry together to help control harmful airborne pollutants and reduce worker exposure.
The project officially launched during its kick-off meeting on 15–16 June 2026 at the Instituto de Tecnología Cerámica (ITC), located on the Universitat Jaume I campus in Castellón, Spain.
From Castellón to European Industry
Based in Castellón, at the heart of Spain’s ceramic cluster, ITC is a private, non-profit research association officially recognised as a technology centre. It brings together university research and applied industrial expertise to turn scientific knowledge into practical improvements.
Its expertise spans ceramic materials, manufacturing processes and industrial sustainability. The team helps companies test materials, improve production and assess environmental impacts. These skills matter for BRISA, where new solutions must work in busy factories as well as in the laboratory.
In her FineEngineering interview, Irina describes ITC’s work in applied research, testing and technology transfer. With more than 50 years of experience, the centre helps businesses develop and validate new ideas before wider use.
For BRISA, that link between science and daily industrial practice is essential.
Meet Irina Celades
Irina is ITC’s Technical Director and BRISA’s Project Coordinator. In a video interview (below), she places workers at the centre of the project’s purpose: preventing indoor industrial pollution and helping create safer workplaces.
_________________________________________________________________________________ “BRISA is about preventing indoor pollution in different industrial sectors in Europe. We are focused mainly on the workers, trying to protect them and give them a much safer environment in their workspace.” - IRINA CELADES, Project Coordinator, ITC.
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She also highlights the range of skills within the consortium. BRISA brings together 17 partner organisations, with expertise that covers industrial processes, digital innovation, environmental research, social aspects and sustainable design.
Those sectors are ceramics, foundries, mineral fillers, end-of-life tyre recycling and plastics recycling. Each has its own processes and risks. Bringing different experts together helps the team address those needs and share lessons across sectors.
Watch Irina’s BRISA interview to meet the coordinator behind this work.
How ITC connects the work
ITC oversees BRISA’s scientific, technical and administrative management. This includes helping partners align their research, track progress, share findings and maintain the quality of project outputs.
The institute also contributes expertise in emissions monitoring, air quality, digital tools for industrial processes and sustainability assessment. It supports the integration and testing of BRISA solutions under real operating conditions through its work on the ceramic case study.
A key part of this work is Safe and Sustainable by Design. This means considering health, safety and environmental impacts from the start when developing materials and processes.
For industry, the aim is practical: understand where risks arise, assess ways to reduce them and test whether those changes deliver the intended benefits.
Irina's interviews bring BRISA into focus
Irina has introduced BRISA to audiences beyond the consortium.
In her Onda Cero interview, broadcast on 25 June 2026, listeners can hear about the European project shortly after its launch. Her FineEngineering interview, published on 11 September 2026, explores ITC’s wider research and industrial expertise, including its leadership of BRISA.
That interview also sets out the project’s longer-term ambition: to support the use of its solutions in 600–800 industrial facilities and help protect more than 45,000 workers by 2035. These are goals that guide the work ahead.
Coming soon: Meet the people behind BRISA
Follow the BRISA blog and our social media channels to meet the researchers, industry teams and innovators working towards safer, more sustainable workplaces.
By Christopher Aguilar
Communication & Dissemination Manager - BRISA/Future Needs
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