IÑAKI ABELLA GUTIÉRREZ
Director and President/Founder of the Asociación Biomas
[email protected]
With studies in biology, specialised in Zoology and with a Master's Degree in Nature Conservation; with great experience in field work, having developed his career in more than eight countries with very different animals and ecosystems.
In Bio+ he has combined her great passions, nature conservation and environmental education, within the framework of the necessary sustainable development. Responsible for the logistics, organisation and coordination of the courses in Kenya, Costa Rica and Uganda, as well as giving part of the Kenyan courses. Environmental consultant, specialised in biological conservation projects. Currently directs all Bio+ activities from Nairobi, Kenya. |
àLEX tORRES rIERA
Programme Coordinator in Kenya (UB), Morocco and Spain/Tarragona
[email protected]
Superior Technician in Environmental Health, Graduate in Environmental Sciences and with a Master in Biodiversity mention of Conservation of Biodiversity and Advanced Biodiversity by the University of Barcelona (UB), where he carried out the thesis "Incidence of the urbanized environment in the natural history of a mesomamifero. The case of the red squirrel (Sciururs vulgaris L.)". He has actively participated in several national congresses on vertebrate fauna presenting various posters and making presentations.
Passionate about the fauna since he has evidence, after having done several courses, volunteering and practices in this professional field, has coordinated the courses of Large Mammals in Kenya for 5 years while he finished his studies and did his research work (publication of notes and articles). He is currently an assistant research technician at the University of Barcelona, Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBiO), while continuing his collaboration with the Wild Fauna Recovery Centre of Torreferrusa and punctually with the Department of Biodiversity of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Bio + Àlex is project coordinator, where he manages the course of the University of Barcelona in Kenya, Morocco in collaboration with the MNCN, and Tarragona, carrying out teaching and support work in the field, and giving some theoretical classes. Àlex supports and informs students, before, during and after the courses, about all aspects of logistics and implementation. Àlex is the promoter and creator of the Herpetological Sampling Techniques course, carried out in Morocco, and of the Ribera Fauna Management and Monitoring course, which is carried out in the province of Tarragona, and at Bio+ he is constantly developing new projects and improving the existing ones. |
eLISA sANDOVAL SERÉS
Programme Coordinator in Calakmul. México and Founder of Bio+ México
[email protected]
Degree in Biology from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, with a thesis entitled "Additive partition of the alpha, beta and gamma diversity of the avifauna of the Sierra de Quila and Piedras Bola de Jalisco".
Elisa obtained a CUMEX scholarship for a semester exchange at the University of Barcelona. She did her professional internship in the prestigious research centre of Mexico, Ecosur-Campeche, with Dr. Rafael Reyna-Hurtado, having published her field studies on tapir and white-lipped peccary in prestigious scientific journals. Elisa made a scientific stay in the prestigious "Kalahari Meerkat Project" in South Africa thanks to a scholarship from the University of Cambridge. She has a diploma in International Conservation "Recanati-Kaplan Centre Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice" by WILDCRU, at Oxford University. Elisa has also been involved in numerous in situ and ex situ conservation projects in her home country, having worked on all types of ecosystems and with all types of animals, from reef fish to birds and mammals in tropical forests. In Bio+ Elisa promotes, coordinates and teaches the course Mammal Monitoring Techniques in Jungle Environments to be held in the Biosphere Reserve of Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico in 2017. Elisa has founded Bio+ México, a civil association registered in Mexico. |
Lara CaRRASCO PESQUERA
Primate Programme Coordinator
[email protected]
With a degree in veterinary medicine from the Complutense University of Madrid and a doctorate in primate ethology and conservation from the University of Barcelona, with an official master's degree in primatology from the same university, Lara is a member of the Special Centre for Primate Research (CERP).
Her two great passions, conservation and primates, have directed her research to the study of primate behaviour and aspects related to animal welfare. Lara has worked with gorillas, chimpanzees and other primates in various national centres such as Rainfer, Fundación Mona and Barcelona Zoo. Currently, Lara is a teacher at the Alfonso X El Sabio University, in Madrid, where she teaches as a Veterinarian and coordinates a research project on primates, carried out at the Zoo in Madrid with the collaboration of this University. In addition, for the last 4 years, Lara has been carrying out studies and collaborations with GREFA, a native fauna hospital in Majadahonda (Madrid), participating in different conservation projects of this entity. During her doctoral thesis, Lara participated in ecology and conservation projects of howler monkeys in Mexico. Lara has visited chimpanzee sanctuaries such as the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia, the Cabárceno Nature Park (Cantabria) and the Zoo-Aquarium in Madrid. The results of her research have been published in specialist journals and she frequently gives lectures on ethology, enrichment and animal welfare at congresses, courses and seminars. Their most recent research activity is materialised through research projects on primates, carried out thanks to the collaboration of the Zoo of Madrid with the Alfonso X University, El Sabio. In Bio+, Lara promotes, coordinates and teaches the course on Primatology and Health Check-ups of chimpanzees in Uganda and promotes new projects focused on primates and their conservation. |
PABLO MANZANO BAENA
Research Coordinator
[email protected]
Pablo is a biologist from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and has a doctorate in ecology and environment from the same university, with a thesis on grassland ecology. He has worked with ecological research centers in Germany, Argentina, the United States (Texas) and New Zealand.
Pablo also has experience in the field of development cooperation, especially on the environmental side, having first worked several years in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later on different continents as world coordinator of two sustainable grazing programmes in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He has lived in Kenya since 2010 and is currently working as an independent consultant and scientific researcher. He mainly studies the sustainability drivers of landscapes dominated by herbivory as an ecological function, and the development options in them conserving biodiversity that integrate ecological factors with other economic and social factors. He carries out field studies in pastoral areas of South America (Gran Chaco ecosystem and Uruguayan pampas), Mediterranean basin, Horn of Africa (mainly Kenya) and India (Gujarat). In addition to research in science, Pablo has a strong commitment to scientific dissemination and has published or given interviews in various media. Pablo has worked practically all over the world including, in addition to those already mentioned, Antarctica, Inner Mongolia (China), Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda, Turkey, Jordan, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia (Somaliland), Senegal and Tanzania. At Bio+ Pablo, he teaches the Sabana Ecology course and coordinates research projects, as well as promoting new research and development projects. |
ROCÍO JIMÉNEZ RAMOS
Marine Ecology Programme Coordinator
[email protected]
Rocío has a double degree in Marine Sciences and Environmental Sciences from the University of Cadiz. After completing a master's degree in Oceanography, she completed her doctoral thesis on marine ecology, specifically on herbivory processes in coastal ecosystems and the effects of climate change on benthic coastal communities. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cadiz. She is the author of scientific articles all of them published in prestigious international journals, presenting her work in various international congresses across three continents. She has developed part of her work in research centres such as the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), in Holland and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (Cibnor) in Mexico, participating in several research projects. She is currently directing a research project on the dynamics of carbon in the coastal system, in coordination with the Centro de Ciências do Mar in Portugal. In her role as a university lecturer, she has taught and is the director of undergraduate and master's theses, as well as making contributions on teaching innovation.
In addition to her research background, Rocío has experience in scientific dissemination projects, having coordinated an environmental volunteer programme on marine angiosperms for more than 5 years in the EDEA research group, at the University of Cadiz, as well as having collaborated in various dissemination projects, both in Spain and Mexico. Currently, she presides over the Association of Oceanographers of Andalusia. In Bio+ Rocío she will give the course Ecology and Evolution of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems and develops the marine ecology area of the association. |
lUIS gONZALO EGEA TINOCO
Marine Ecology Programme Coordinator
[email protected]
PhD. in marine sciences and technologies specialised in coastal ecosystems. His professional career has been developed both with the aim of researching and disseminating the care of coastal and marine ecosystems. He studied a double degree in Marine Sciences and Environmental Sciences and later specialised in the Master of Oceanography at the University of Cadiz. He carried out his doctoral thesis on the effect of climate change on marine phanerogams. The results of his work have been submitted to international scientific publications and widely exposed in national and international congresses. He is currently participating in several research projects working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cadiz. Previously he has worked in international centres such as the Centro de Ciências do Mar in Portugal, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in Holland and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine Sciences in Mexico.
After 10 years working in science and scientific dissemination, Luis has extensive experience in research and transmission of scientific results, as well as in raising awareness of the importance of caring for the oceans and the environment in schoolchildren and the general public. On the other hand, he has experience as a professor at the university as well as experience in the coordination and participation of various programs and scientific volunteers, such as FAMAR. He is currently vice-president of the Association of Oceanographers of Andalusia. In Bio+ Luis will give the course Ecology and Evolution of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems and develops the marine ecology area of the association. |