Prof Sonia Contera is a Spanish physicist. She is now a tenured associate professor in Biological Physics at the Department of Physics of the University of Oxford and founder and codirector of the Oxford Martin Institute of Nanoscience for Medicine. Her work lies at the interface of physics, biology and nanotechnology. She has a special interest in the role of mechanics in biology and designs nanomaterials that mimic biological functions for bio/medical applications such as drug delivery or cell cultures that avoid animal testing.

Sonia is a public speaker on the role of nanotechnology on the future of biology and medicine and has a strong interest in the relationship of technology with equality.

She is fluent in several European languages, in Japanese and in Chinese-Putonghuà.