BC3. Basque centre for climate change – Klima aldaketa ikergai

Short CV

As a Postdoctoral Researcher with expert knowledge of Conservation Biogeography, Ecological Niche Theory and Spatial Informatics, I will be contributing to BC3’s Integrated Modelling of Coupled Human-natural Systems core activities. Drawing on my experience across private, public and third sector in Europe, North America and the South Pacific, I will be supporting the Data and Modelling development of the ARIES platform and the RL5 research team.

I hold a PhD in Eco-informatics from the University of Oslo, Norway, where I developed a modular workflow approach (MIAToolbox) quantifying the relative performance of MaxEnt niche models, and testing a novel gradient-analytical nature mapping system. Following my PhD, In Portugal, I used machine learning and ensemble approaches, trade data and network theory to model invasive risk scenarios, due to the changing environmental and socio-economic climates.

I have worked on a range of cross-disciplinary projects, integrating environmental, health and socio-economic data, spatial analysis and informatics, in the context of ecosystem services, biodiversity, food security, and global change. Prior to starting my doctoral research, I provided spatial analysis and GIS support to several Norwegian projects, such as monitoring discrepancies between local and national land-use planning practices; mapping agricultural trends and patterns across space and time, including future climate change scenarios.

In Italy, I worked on UN-funded projects concerning food security operations in West Africa, using Remote Sensing and GIS, hosted at the National Research Centre (CNR) in Florence. In New Zealand, I contributed to the development and use of spatial analysis in the national Environmental Health Surveillance and Geo-Hazard management institutes. Specific projects included spatial analysis of a range of environmental risks and hazards to human health, monitoring the spread of human influenza, and other infectious diseases. Whilst most of my contribution was data analysis, staff training and map production, I also had the opportunity to lead their first report on the impact of agricultural spray-drift incidents on human health.

In the US and the UK I worked with NGOs and private consulting companies, using GIS and spatial analysis to carry out ecological surveys, monitor resources and develop conservation strategies. One of these entailed comparing three different spatially-explicit population models, to assess the viability and management of endangered species protected habitat My most formative being helping set up https://www.greeninfo.org/ , one of the first GIS one-stop shop for NGO’s in the San Francisco Bay Area and greenbelt.

Through a joint Bachelor’s and Master’s programme, I studied Ecology and Conservation Biology at the University of California San Diego and UC Davis. There I had the unique opportunity to be involved in the management of a captive endangered species (California Condor), learn my first bits of code (TRUBASIC) writing species-area relationship models to test biogeographic theories, be introduced to remote sensing/GIS, and study tropical biology in Monteverde, Costa Rica. As a member of a green and diverse community, I participate and organise sustainability and social inclusion activities, locally and globally.