Faculty Members
Manuel Pulido-Velázquez
Professor
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez is professor of Water Resources Engineering at the Technical University of Valencia (UPV) and Director of the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Spain’s leading academic research institute for the interdisciplinary study of water resources (more than 100 researchers, 40 PhDs). He is also Director of the endowed chair on Climate Change at UPV funded by the Valencian regional government.
His main research focuses on the development of methods and tools for integrated management of land and water resource systems combining hydrology, engineering, economics, participatory approaches and system analysis. He has publications in top journals and has led international research project on issues related to water-land-energy-climate nexus, river basin management, groundwater and conjunctive use management, water economics, climate change impacts and adaptation, and water conservation in urban and irrigation. He has contributed to the development of hydroeconomic models for different case studies in Europe (Spain, France), America (California, Rio Grande basin), and Asia (Tigris-Euphrates basin).
Alberto Garcia-Prats
Associate professor
Alberto García Prats is associate professor in the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering at the UPV, Deputy Director of Academic Planning and Students at ETSEAMN and Director of the UPV-Global Omnium Aguas de Valencia Chair.
He investigates in a) impact of climate change on irrigation: irrigation agronomy, water consumption pattern changes under climate change conditions, agronomic simulation models, decision support systems, b) Irrigation engineering -design and operation of pressurized irrigation networks, energy efficiency in irrigation and water / energy binomial and c) eco-hydrology: forest management for hydrological purposes of maximizing deep percolation and groundwater recharge, simulation models, decision support systems.
Research team
Hector Macian-Sorribes
Postdoctoral researcher
Hector Macian-Sorribes is a postdoctoral researcher in Integrated Water Resources Management in the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) under a postdoctoral contract award by UPV. His main research lines are the development of novel hydroeconomic modelling techniques, mainly stochastic programming algorithms, the application of artificial intelligence in water resource systems and the integration of hydrometeorological forecasting with water management models to improve decision-making in the water sector. He currently participates in the H2020 project GoNEXUS, the PRIMA project eGROUNDWATER and the National Spanish project ADAPTAMED.
Adria Rubio-Martin
Postdoctoral researcher
Adria Rubio-Martin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), within the Technical University of Valencia (UPV). His research is dedicated to improving the management of water resource systems by taking a holistic modelling approach that uses system dynamics for incorporating economic, social and environmental variables into a unified modelling framework.
He has participated on several European projects about the development of climate services (INNOVA), and is part of the management team of eGROUNDWATER which aims to enhance groundwater management, and GoNEXUS, which is at the forefront of developing tools for a comprehensive assessment of the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus. His current involvements include The HuT, which adresses climate extremes, RETOUCH NEXUS, where he leads the implementation of economic instruments to enhance water resource management, and TRANSCEND, all three Horizon Europe projects are currently ongoing.
Esther López-Pérez
Postdoctoral researcher
Esther López Pérez, a researcher holding a PhD Rural and Agroalimentary Engineering and a Master’s degree in Geographic Information Science and Systems, specializes in geospatial models aimed at optimizing water resources in agriculture.
Her current research focuses on evaluating the efficient use of groundwater through remote sensing techniques to optimize water resources in agriculture and contribute to the sustainable development of the sector. She is actively involved in the eGROUNDWATER project, which aims to achieve participatory and sustainable management of groundwater in Mediterranean regions.
Juan M. Carricondo-Antón
Postdoctoral researcher
Juan M. Carricondo Antón is a researcher and Agricultural Engineer, with a master’s degree in agri-food and environmental economics and a PhD in Water and Environmental Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV).
His principal lines of research are the development of prediction models for the irrigation needs of crops. The integration of these predictions in agrohydrological models and the operation of pressurized irrigation networks supplied by renewable energies.
His actual research activity integrates basin-scale modeling (Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura) of irrigation needs of crops and the prediction of agrohydrological parameters.
Amparo Martinez-Domingo
Postdoctoral researcher
Amparo Martínez works as researcher at the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) in the Universitat Politècnica de València.
Her recent research dealt with nitrate diffuse pollution in the Midwestern US, identification of critical source areas through river basin-scale models and BMP implementation. She currently participates in the GoNEXUS (H2020 Project) building innovative tools for the WEFE Nexus management (Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems).
Najib Boubakri
PhD candidate
Najib is a PhD Researcher in the field of climate change and water resources management in the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Technical University of Valencia (UPV). His main research focuses on the developing of methods for assessing impacts and selecting climate change adaptation and mitigation options in areas under water stress conditions. His research is funded by the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (R+D+i). Najib key experience areas are water ressources and evironmental management, rural development, irrigation and water management, water resource economics, remote sensing and precision agriculture. Previously working as research assistant in the H2020 project MADFORWATER. Najib is supervised by Dr Manuel Pulido Velázquez (IIAMA) and Dr Alberto Garcia Prats (IIAMA).
Iván Lagos
PhD candidate
Iván Lagos Castro is a PhD Researcher in the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Technical University of Valencia (UPV). In his line of investigative work, he seeks to address the multiple problems of water resources with an innovative approach that exploits the potential of the most innovative current practices in the scientific field. He has developed research that makes use of artificial intelligence in the management of water resources in large cities, and he has also participated in the formulation of water development projects in Latin America. Currently his research focuses on the impact of climate change on the Turia river basin in Spain.
Dariana Isamel Avila Velasquez
PhD candidate
Dariana is a PhD student at the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). Her research work focuses on improving water management for irrigation in Mediterranean basins, combining remote sensing, weather forecasting and artificial intelligence. Her research is funded by the Ministry of Universities through a predoctoral contract for the training of university professors (FPU) of Spain.
Dariana’s expertise is water resource management and risk management with Geographic Information Systems. She has worked on issues of climate change, ecosystem governance, livelihoods, and the gender approach in rural areas, with the indigenous Lenca population of Honduras, with funds from the Romero Christian Initiative (RCI) of Germany and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Valentina Monico
PhD candidate
Valentina Mónico is a pre-doctoral Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering student at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). Her research seeks to integrate mathematical models and system dynamics with the development of participatory processes to propose innovative improvements in managing water resources systems.
Valentina has experience in carrying out hydraulic and environmental impact projects and has developed research related to the effect of the ecological flow regime on indicators of hydrological alteration in Spanish basins.
Sebastian Arias-Lopez
PhD candidate
Sebastián Arias López is a doctoral student in Hydraulic Engineering and the Environment at the Universitat Politècnica de València. His research focuses on the use of various mathematical modeling techniques for the development of sustainable water management strategies in a context of climate uncertainty.
He has conducted studies on system dynamics modeling for multi-objective water resource management, focusing on a case study in the Zambezi River in Africa. Currently, he is working on determining the safe operating space for the water resource management system in the Júcar River basin in Spain, using stochastic climate scenario generators to assess potential system vulnerabilities.
Ana Gabriela Fernández-Garza
PhD candidate
Ana Gabriela Fernández Garza is a PhD student in Transportation Infrastructure and Territory at the Universitat Politècnica de València. Her research is funded by the European project TheHut which seeks the forecasts of Heat Waves, their spatial distributions and intensities in relation to the morphology of the city in order to define warning systems. In addition to understanding the influence of urban morphological characteristics on Urban Heat Islands, seeking a more resilient urban design against climate change.
Ana Gabriela has experience in the elaboration of public transportation passenger demand studies and optimization of solid waste collection routes, as well as knowledge in regulatory plans, analysis of protection zones and water quality. She has developed research on the incidence of city morphology on Urban Heat Islands in Valencia.