Maria Francesca Casula is currently Full Professor of Chemical Foundations of Technologies at the Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Cagliari, where she currently serves as Vice Director (July 2021- to date).

She obtained the Laurea Degree and the PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cagliari. She performed post-lauream/post-doctoral research at the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Cagliari and at the Department of Chemistry of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and visited several research laboratories. She is a member of the Italian Interuniversity Consortium on Materials Science and Technology (INSTM), of the International Sol-Gel Society (ISGS), of the Interdepartmental Center of Environmental Engineering and Sciences (CINSA) of the University of Cagliari.

Teaching within the University of Cagliari relates/has been related to courses within the course in Electronic, Computer Science and Telecomunication Engineering, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Physics, Toxicology, Toxicology of Food, Environment, and Drugs, Molecular and Cell Biology. She also held classes/seminars within summer schools (6th Summer School of the ISGS; Heraeus Seminar "Colloidal Nanoparticles-From Synthesis to Applications"), within the Master “Nanobiotecnologie” (Sardegna Ricerche, Porto Conte Ricerche, Alghero, SS) and within the professional training plan for Sartec. She is currently (October 2022- to date) the Coordinator of the PhD board in Innovation Science and Technology at the University of Cagliari.

The research is focused on the design, synthesis and physico-chemical characterization of materials, with particular reference to functional nanostructured solids for prospective application in biomedicine, energy and environmental remediation. The research is also carried out within local, national and international collaborations, and the results have been reported in more than 130 publications (https://iris.unica.it/) on international journals (h- index= 37; Scopus, may 2023). She took part to regional, national and international projects (including projects funded by Fondazione di Sardegna, dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, MIUR-PRIN, SEED-IIT, INSTM, COST-H2020).