Belén Sotillo received her Degree in Physics in 2009 and her Master in Applied Physics in 2010, both from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She was granted a FPU scholarship to carry out his doctorate under the direction of Prof. Paloma Fernández Sánchez. Her thesis was focused on the growth and characterization of ZnS micro- and nanostructures doped with Al, Ga and In. She made a short research stay (February-April 2014) in Cologne (Germany) with a grant from the German Exchange Service (DAAD). During the PhD she also collaborated with the group of Prof. Javier Solís (CSIC) in the characterization of waveguides, fabricated with femtosecond laser writing. She obtained her PhD in December 2014, with the highest distinction ("Cum Laude" and extraordinary doctorate award). She has carried out a three-year post-doctoral stay at the Istituto di Photonica e Nanotecnologie di Milano (IFN-CNR) and at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), under the supervision of Dr. Shane Eaton and Prof. Roberta Ramponi, in the field of micro-fabrication with femtosecond lasers in glasses and crystals. During this period she has collaborated with several countries throughout the world: Italy (Turin, Trento), Japan, Canada, Spain, Turkey, South Africa, and Algeria.

Belén Sotillo is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, after obtaining a fellowship from the Comunidad de Madrid to attract research talent. She is also associated with her former institute in Milan (IFN-CNR). She is working on the characterization of different materials for applications in gas sensing, photocatalysis or supercapacitors.