Professor of Ecology at the University of Cádiz.
His research experience has focused on studying the structure of plankton communities in aquatic systems, as well as analyzing the physical-biological interaction in the pelagic system. He has completed his training as a researcher in prestigious international laboratories such as the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (Dartmouth, Canada) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (England). He has participated in more than 20 research projects at the national, regional, and European levels, as well as in 15 oceanographic campaigns, mainly in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar, Gulf of Cádiz, and the Alboran Sea, although he also participated in the Malaspina-2010 circumnavigation expedition, within the framework of a project of the Consolider Ingenio-2010 call.
He has over 50 articles published in scientific journals, has supervised 3 doctoral theses (with two more in preparation) and 14 master’s theses, and was responsible for the postgraduate training block in the Malaspina project. Regarding research management tasks, he was the first director of the Andalusian Center for Marine Science and Technology (CACYTMAR), a joint institute dependent on the University of Cádiz and the Andalusian Government. He has also been the Manager of the Marine Science and Technology Thematic Area at the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. He has been a member of COCSABO and has represented the Government of Spain in European marine research programs such as JPIOceans and SeasERA.
From 2014 to 2017, he was the general coordinator of the International Excellence Campus of the Sea CEIMAR, a scientific aggregation that includes 14 institutions in the South of the Iberian Peninsula and North of Morocco, including 7 universities and 7 public research organizations, and has received the final rating of global A+ campus. He also directed the International Doctoral School in Marine Studies EIDEMAR from 2013 to mid-2019.
He is currently the general coordinator of the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU)
