I am an environmental social scientist who studies human-nature relationships, and the impact of social, environmental and policy change on resource governance. I investigate public policies in the areas of land-use governance, climate change mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity conservation, and how these impact rural livelihoods and transform resource management institutions and people’s behaviour.
I have a Bachelor in Environmental Sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1999), and a Postgraduate degree in Environmental Management, Universitat de Barcelona (2000). Then I moved to the UK to study a Master’s in Natural Resources and Development (2001) and to develop a PhD in International Development, University of East Anglia (2005).
Between 2005 and 2010, I was a post-doctoral researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, as well as a part-time lecturer at the University of Cambridge (2009-2011). In 2011, I joined the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, first as a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ research fellow (2011-2015) with a Marie Curie Career Integration grant; subsequently as a ‘distinguished’ senior researcher (2016-2020), and now as an ICREA Research Professor. At ICTA-UAB, I currently serve as Scientific and Deputy Director and I lead the Laboratory for the Analysis of Socio-Ecological Systems in a Global World (LASEG).
I have done long-term fieldwork in Mexico, Belize, Tanzania, and Argentina, and research findings have been published in top-tier scientific outlets, including Nature Climate Change, Global Environmental Change and Geoforum or World Development. I have also written several books and book chapters, dozens of policy briefs, working papers and consultancy reports, as well as served as guest editor in several special issues. I have significant MSc/PhD supervision experience and I have supported the career development of several post-doctoral researchers.
I have been an associate editor of the journals Geoforum and Ecology and Society and I have sat in the international editorial boards of the journals Global Environmental Change and the Journal of Peasant Studies. I am also a member of the following academic societies: the International Society for Ecological Economics, the International Association for the Study of the Commons, and the Association of American Geographers. I co-authored the ‘Sustainable Development and Equity’ and ‘Agriculture, Forestry and Land-Use’ chapters of the 5th Assessment Report of Working Group III (Mitigation) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Besides doing research and teaching, I enjoy the company and energy of my two children: Pol (2011) and Jana (2015). I also like cycle touring, mountaineering, travelling, and, particularly, endurance cycling. I have participated in several mountain/gravel bike multi-stage competitions, such as the Cape-Epic (2019) and the Cat700 (2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019), the Catalonia Bike Race (2018), the Transpyr (2017) and the Titan Desert (2016), among other less strenuous endeavours. When inspiration thrives, I also write amateur poetry (Yamana, 2011).