Maria Dolores Melgar Freire

As Head of European Strategy and Policy, Dolores leads i2CAT's strategic positioning within the European R&I landscape. She drives the centre's European strategy, advising senior leadership on R&I roadmaps and designing institutional capacity-building programmes aligned with European Commission priorities.

Her expertise lies in shaping institutional strategy, ensuring long-term sustainability, and fostering high-level international collaborations.

Prior to i2CAT, Dolores was the SFI Fellow for International Affairs at Science Foundation Ireland, where she advised on R&I policy and guided the international engagement for the foundation's portfolio of 16 research centres. Her background also includes coordinating funding development and sustainability at Insight, Ireland's Research Centre for Data Analytics.

Dolores holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and a B.Sc. in Physics, a technical foundation that informs her strategic work in the R&I ecosystem.