Margarita Parra graduated in 1981 and obtained her Ph.D. thesis (1986) from the University of Valencia (UV). After a post-doctoral stage with Prof. S. V. Ley in the Imperial College of London (UK) on the synthesis of myo-inositol and derivatives (1988-89), she returned to UV to collaborate in different research areas: reactivity of carboxylic acid dianions, development of chemosensors for cations, anions and hazardous gases and, more recently, on the development of hybrid materials for the detection and controlled release of substances. She became a full professor in 2010 and senior researcher at IDM.