Scientific Board

Scientific Board

 

Scientific Project Coordinator

María Jesús Iglesias Briones

Maria J.I. Briones (PhD in Biological Sciences) is currently a Professor of Animal Biology at the University of Vigo (Spain) with special interest on the functional role of soil fauna in terrestrial ecosystems in the context of climate change. In particular I have been trying to quantify soil biodiversity changes and their potential implications for ecosystem services that they govern (i.e. sustainable plant production, soil carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, hydrological regulation). To achieve this I have developed a robust research profile on taxonomy and ecology of different soil organisms.

mbriones@uvigo.es
UVIGO

WP1 Leader

David Fernández Calviño

Researcher at the Department of Plant Biology and Soil Science of University of Vigo. He has a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture and Forestry (2001 and 2004), and PhD in Soil Sciences (2008). His research expertise lines are soil quality, inorganic and organic pollutants dynamics and soil biochemistry/microbiology.
Project coordinator, member of project management board, member of scientific board and WP1 leader.

+34 988 368 888 | davidfc@uvigo.es
UVIGO

WP1 Deputy Leader

Manuel Roman

Bachelor degree in Economics and MBA in the EOI (industrial organizational School) and postgraduate studies in the Swedish School of economics (HANKEN). He has long experience as international project’s director, business development, change management, innovation processes. He created the company CONTACTICA in 2004 and he is the current general manager of the company where he coordinates, develops and executes projects in the innovation field, mainly for traditional industries. Participation in WP1, helping in the management of the project, and WP8.

Manuel.roman@contactica.es
CONTACTICA

WP2 Leader

Merrit Shanskiy

Merrit Shanskiy
PhD in field crop husbandry, associated professor of soil science at Estonian University of Life Sciences, Chair of Soil Science. Main fields of research are related to soil science and soil biodiversity, plants-soil interactions. EULS researcher-in-charge in the SoildiverAgro project, WP2 leader and involved in several WPs.

+372 731 3545 | merrit.shanskiy@emu.ee
EULS

WP2 Deputy Leader

Flora Alonso Vega

Bachelor and PhD in Biology. Teanured lecturer in Plant and Soil Science Department at the University of Vigo. Research experience on soil resource evaluation mainly focussed on soil heavy metal pollution, availability, fraccionation and speciation.

+34 988 387 070 | florav@uvigo.es
UVIGO

WP3 Leader

Lieven Waeyenberge

Senior researcher at ILVO, with expertise in molecular diagnostics of plant-parasitic and entomopathogenic nematodes. In this regard, he cooperated with several international research groups to aid in resolving diagnostic problems. Since a couple of years, his focus shifted towards amplicon-sequencing (a Next Generation Sequencing technique) to characterize soil nematode communities. Nematode communities are considered as capable bio-indicators of ecosystem health.
Member of the Project Management and Scientific Board, Atlantic Central regional coordinator and WP3 leader. Additionally involved in WP2, WP4, WP5, WP7 and WP8.

Lieven.waeyenberge@ilvo.vlaanderen.be | ResearchGate | Website
ILVO

WP3 Deputy Leader

Krista Peltoniemi

Doctor (PhD) Krista Peltoniemi is a senior scientist and has expertise on soil microbiomes. She has experience on studies of soil microbial communities (fungi, bacteria, actinobacteria, methanogenic archaea and methanotrophic bacteria), their diversity after environmental changes and their relationships in various environments. Her main task in the projects is to act as a regional coordinator for Boreal region on behalf of all Finnish partners Luke, Petla, Kilpiä and Tyynelä farms. She is involved in all WPs, and her expertize will be utilized in the soil microbiological anayses concerning WP3 and WP5.
Regional coordinator of boreal region, deputy coordinator of WP3.

+358 29 532 5585 | krista.peltoniemi@luke.fi
LUKE

WP4 Leader

Kristian Koefoed Brandt

Associate professor (PhD) and head of the Environmental Microbiology Research Group at University of Copenhagen. Research activities aim to elucidate, understand, and exploit microbe-pollutant interactions and basic interactions between microorganisms and their environment. UCPH scientist-in-charge in the SoildiverAgro project, WP4 leader and involved in most WPs+45 35 33 26 12 | kkb@plen.ku.dk
UCPH

WP4 Deputy Leader

Jane Debode

Plant pathologist holding a PhD in bioscience engineering – agriculture (Ghent University, 2005). Currently, she is senior researcher at the Plant Sciences Unit of ILVO, involved in research about soil microbiology in relation to plant health and the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of soil-borne diseases. She is experienced in several techniques to study soil microbiology, including phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and molecular techniques (DNA-metabarcoding, qPCR,…).
Member of the Project Scientific Board and involved in WP4 and WP8.

Jane.debode@ilvo.vlaanderen.be | ResearchGate | Website
ILVO

WP5 Leader

Silvia Martínez

Silvia Martínez is professor at UPCT. Doctor in Agronomy. Main lines of research are based on valorization of organic and industrial wastes, environmental rehabilitation of degraded sites using phytoremediation techniques, wastewater treatment systems (artificial wetlands) and sustainable soil management practices.
WP5 Coordinator.

+34 968 327 064 | silvia.martinez@upct.es
UPCT

WP5 Deputy Leader

Stefan Schrader

Stefan Schrader is Deputy Head of the Thünen-Institute of Biodiversity in Braunschweig, Germany, and leader of the soil zoology working group. He is Professor for Soil Biology and Soil Ecology at the Technical University of Braunschweig. His research activity focuses on functional diversity of soil fauna and its provision of ecosystem services in agricultural systems. Regional Coordinator: Continental.
WP5 Deputy Leader.

stefan.schrader@thuenen.de
TI

WP6 Leader

Eija Pouta

Professor Eija Pouta has extensive experience of research on the value of public goods such as rural landscape, biodiversity and nature conservation benefits. She has published over 60 peer reviewed articles in the main journals of natural resource economics and planning focusing mainly on non-market valuation. She will be leading WP6 and facilitate analyzing the costs and benefits of enhancing soil biodiversity in economic terms and the analysis of farmers’ behavior.
Task leader of WP6.

+358 50 343 9834 | eija.pouta@luke.fi
LUKE

WP6 Deputy Leader

Martin Banse

Martin Banse is Director at the Thünen Institute of Market Analysis Institute in Braunschweig, Germany. Martin Banse has over 20 years’ experience in quantitative analyses of agricultural policy and international trade. He has done much work in agricultural sector analysis and quantitative modelling, and has extensive experience in working with partial and general equilibrium models especially in the area of bioeconomy, international trade and agricultural policies.
WP6 Deputy Leader

martin.banse@thuenen.de
TI

WP7 Leader

Juan Carlos Nóvoa Muñoz

Juan Carlos Nóvoa Muñoz is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sciences (UVIGO). The scope of his research is to assess the alteration of soil functions, mainly those depend on their physic-chemical properties, as consequence of the intensification of the anthropogenic activities that lead to soil pollution due contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, emerging contaminants, etc. In SoildiverAgro, he is involved in different tasks of WP7 and WP8.

+34 988 387 070 | edjuanca@uvigo.es
UVIGO

WP7 Deputy Leader

Javier Calatrava

Professor of Agricultural Economics and Policy and Rural Sociology at UPCT. Research experience on agricultural, resource and environmental economics, mainly focused on the economics and policy of water resources management and agricultural soil conservation.
Deputy coordinator of WP7 and task leader in WP2, WP6 and WP7.

https://personas.upct.es/perfil/j.calatrava
UPCT

WP8 Leader

Tamara Rodríguez Silva

Degree in Journalism from the University San Pablo CEU (Madrid, Spain), PGCert. in Audiovisual Communication, and PGCert. in Patents, Trademarks, Copyright and Competition both from University of Santiago de Compostela (USC, Spain).
MSc. in Business Communication from University of La Coruña (UDC, Spain) and MSc. in Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility from National Distance Education University and University Jaume I Castellón (UNED and UJI, Spain). Certified by GRI on G4 reporting Guidelines.
She is an expert on communication, innovation and sustainability with more than 10 years of experience in consultancy on entrepreneurship, culture, European funds at public and private entities with emphasis on SMEs development.
Before joining FEUGA in September 2019, Tamara worked at several media and more recently at ACIS (Galician Agency for Knowledge and Health Innovation) and GAIN (Galician Agency for Innovation). ANIS (Spanish association health journalists) member.
European Project Manager at FEUGA.

+34 608 025 546 | trodriguez@feuga.es
FEUGA

WP8 Deputy Leader

Nuria Valdés

Bachelor degree in Environmental Sciences, with several years of experience in environmental consulting. She has participated in the management of several environmental and R+D projects (H2020) both nationally and internationally, managing economic and human resources, deadlines, administrative tasks and achieving the objectives, based on key performance indicators (BSC methodology). Involved in WP1 and WP8.

nuria.valdes@contactica.es
CONTACTICA

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