Current position
September 2018 – current: Associate Professor (“Profesor Contratado Doctor”) – University Pablo de Olavide, Spain
Past employment and professional associations
June 2012 – September 2018 Ramón y Cajal Junior Group Leader – University Pablo de Olavide, Spain
Aug 2009 – May 2012 JAE-Doc Post-doctoral Fellow – Estación Biológica de Doñana, Spain
July 2005 – Aug 2009 Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellow – University of Uppsala, Sweden
June 2004 – May 2008 Associated Scientist – Centro Nacional Patagónico, Argentina
Oct 2003 – May 2004 Associated Scientist – University of Leiden, The Netherlands
Nov 2003 – Jan 2004 Honorary Fellow – University of Groningen, The Netherlands
July 2002 – Sept 2003 TALENT Research Scholarship – New Mexico State University, USA
Higher Education and Qualifications
PhD: University of Groningen and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), 23 December 2002, Marine Biology / Evolutionary Ecology, Profs. T. Piersma & W.J. Wolff. Thesis: The Ecology and Evolution of Anti-Predation Traits in a Burrowing Bivalve, Macoma balthica
MSc: Leiden University, 31 August 1995, Animal Ecology / Evolutionary Biology
Publications
Get the Full list and pdfs of my papers published in international, peer-reviewed journals here.
Publication summary:
My work has appeared in high-quality international peer-reviewed journals such as Science (twice), Trends in Ecology and Evolution (four times), Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Evolution, American Naturalist, Molecular Ecology (five times), Proceedings of the Royal Society-B (four times), Biology Letters, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Evolutionary Biology (three times), Oecologia, Oikos, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, and Behavioral Ecology (five times). The vast majority of my publications (82%) have been published in journals within the top 25% (Q1) of their field as based on ISI-JCR impact factors. The average impact factor of the journals in which I published is 5.05, and increasing to 6.31 over the last ten years. I am first or single author on 46% of my publications (and first, second or senior on 75%). The median number of coauthors is only two, and I have published at the most 10 papers with the same coauthor.
Teaching
: see Teaching.
Previous member of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program “Environment and Society”
Current coordinator of the Master Program “Biodiversity and Conservation Biology”
Funding
Since 2002 I have obtained all the necessary funding for my research (>1,250,000 Euros) by writing nationally and internationally competitive proposals. These include a Talent Scholarship, an Honorary Fellowship, an EU-funded Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship, and projects from the Plan Nacional and Explora schemes of the Spanish government, and also helping obtain contracts for three post-docs, three PhD students and two full-time technicians.
Participation in projects
: see Other Projects (N=19, Principal Investigator=10)
Regular reviewer for international, peer-reviewed journals
I pride myself in giving thorough, extensive and constructive reviews. Many journals are the absolute top in their fields:
Science, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Ecology Letters, Evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Molecular Ecology, American Naturalist, Journal of Animal Ecology, etcetera.
I have been awarded as Top Reviewer in Publons’ 2018 and 2019 global Peer Review Award, and acknowledged as Top Reviewer by Molecular Ecology in 2012 and 2014.
I was member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2016-2019), and Reviews Editor for Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution (2013-2017).
I was Guest Editor for a special issue of Evolutionary Ecology on asymmetric and non-random dispersal and gene flow, Nov. 2015
Organiser of scientific meetings
I have organised symposia at 7 international (European or global) conferences and 2 national meetings.
Public outreach
- Members and participant in the project EvoKE (Evolutionary Knowledge for Everyone), funded by COST (EU-ESF)
- My work has featured in several TV and radio programs, newspapers and magazines, and countless blogs and websites
- Three days of live presentations and computer activities at the Science Fair (Sevilla) in 2016, 2017 and 2019 (22.000 visitors)
- I visited several primary schools for talks and projects about science
- I published 14 popular scientific papers