Environmental Department
Marcos Mayoral
With a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Master’s in Environmental Contamination: Monitoring, Prevention and Correction, Master’s in Environmental Management and Audit and a Master’s in OHS, he has over 12 years’ experience in environmental procedures and project evaluation at regional and national level. In addition, he possesses advanced knowledge of geographical information systems (GIS).
Marcos has participated actively in the environmental evaluation of renewable projects, such as for photovoltaic, biomass and wind installations. He also has experience in mobility projects and waste management, as well as conducting environmental monitoring for energy production plants and evacuation lines (compliance with environmental conditions and tracking incidents with fauna, and especially avifauna mortality).
Environmental engineering technician
Raquel García
Doctorate in Biology and a Master’s in Integrated Management Systems. With 20 years’ professional experience, as well as participating in a variety of research and innovation projects, her career has been related to environmental management and protection, with regard to environmental assessment of plans and programmes, sustainable development, climate change and land use, and she has wide experience in procedures, environmental monitoring and coordination of climate change policies. She is the author of a number of publications in the categories of science, science outreach, training and environmental management.
Innovation and Participation technician
Louise Méhauden
With a Master’s in Sociology, specialising in social intervention and policies, Louise has built up 5 years of experience in social participation and innovation projects in both Belgium and Spain. She began her career in Brussels, collaborating with Saint-Louis University, ORCHIS and Réseau MAG asbl on several projects related to health, primary social care, food assistance, employment and disability, both in political, institutional and association contexts.
Since 2017, she has been working in Extremadura and Spain as project technician, on preparing, developing and coordinating local, regional, national and European projects (Horizon 2020, INTERREG POCTEP and SUDOE, LIFE, Operational Groups, etc.). She is a specialist in designing and implementing participation plans, impact evaluations and action plans on both environmental and socioeconomic topics such as climate change, rural depopulation, extensive livestock raising, sustainable food and short agrifood chains.
Innovation and Participation technician
Diego Pacheco
The holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Automatic Electronic Engineering, in addition to completing an innovation and technology programme, with training in sustainability, lifecycle analysis, carbon footprint, circular economy and ecolabelling, Diego’s role is as a technician for innovation and participation projects, whose aim is to achieve the sustainable inclusion of technology into the environment. Examples of these are the development of an automated smart reservoir, and biogas implementation projects in Extremadura.
Innovation and Participation technician
Rebeca Vidal
Bachelor’s in Biological Science and Doctorate in Molecular Biology and Plant Biochemistry from the University of Seville. She has 19 years’ experience in the R+D+i sector, with active experimental participation in different projects related to microbiology and biotechnology, both at national and international level.
During the most recent stage of her career, she has specialised in managing projects in the private sector, successfully opening new lines of innovation in the business world. In addition to her professional activity, her experience in teaching and outreach must be added. She has publications in international scientific journals to her credit and has participated in numerous scientific conferences and seminars on business innovation, of both national and international scope. Her academic training is likewise complemented by a Specialist Diploma in Big Data and Data Science, and has taken advanced courses, basically in lifecycle analysis and molecular biology techniques.
Administration Department
Natalia Palmero
Bachelor’s in Business Studies, with experience in management and financial justification for projects. She has given project justification workshops for courses for the unemployed managed by the public employment service SEXPE. She has collaborated in presenting projects of different types in schemes at regional, national and international level, such as CDTI, Life+, H2020, 7PM, INTERREG (POCTEP, SUDEO, EUROPE) and Operational Groups, as well as others.
She also has experience in document management for access management platforms, payment and collection management, and client and provider management.
Innovation and Participation technician
Sara Vargas
Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies, university specialist in Creation and Commercialisation of Tourist Experiences and with training in preparing European projects. She has collaborated on presenting operational groups and European projects for programmes at regional, national and international level, although her career is tightly bound up with financial justification for projects and a variety of programmes such as Life+, H2020, INTERREG (POCTEP, SUDEO, EUROPE) and Operational Groups, as well as others.
She holds experience in devising communication plans, preparing dissemination material, studies of socioeconomic impact, preparing consortium meetings and documentary management for platforms and the company.
Innovation and Participation technician
Marta Fernández
Bachelor’s in Environmental Sciences and Master’s in Local and Territorial Development Planning and Management.
Experience as researcher and technician in different projects related to the environment and territorial development. Over recent years, she has worked principally on: local knowledge systems, knowledge coproduction and transfer, knowledge and innovation networks; territorial governance and regional development; identification, evaluation and representation of ecosystem services; agroforestry systems (dehesas/scrub) and indicators to monitor them; threats and dynamics of land use and conservation strategies for Protected Spaces.
Environmental engineering technician
Laura Corchero
With a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and specialized in the environmental field, Laura is a committed professional, passionate about wildlife conservation. Both her internship at the National History Museum of the University of Lisbon and her bachelor’s thesis about invasive exotic species, added to her personal interest for the natural world, have resulted in her becoming a qualified biologist for the identification, study and protection of biodiversity.
Her other interests include education and science outreach: she is the author of educational videos produced for the Museum and she is also currently in training to teach in secondary education.
Innovation and sustainability technician
Antonio Román
Degree in Political Science, Bachelor in Public Management, Master in Rural Development and Specialist in Comprehensive Management of the Mediterranean Forest. Universities of Salamanca, Barcelona and Extremadura and London Metropolitan.
Professional experience in coordination of digital inclusion and capacity building projects, social innovation and improvement adults employability. Trainer of trainers for the development of soft skills, critical thinking and digital competences for personal, social and professional development.
Experience in European collaboration, research and innovation projects for the twin -digital and ecological- transition, development and adaptation of key competence frameworks in collaboration with the European Commission: European Framework for Digital Competences (DigComp 2.1, translator of the Spanish version) and European Framework for Personal, Social and Learning to Learn Competences (LifEcomp).
Keynote speaker at international events in collaboration with European networks and institutions: All Digital -European network of digital competence centres-, Youth Partnership, Council of Europe, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
Director of international volunteering projects in Spain and Germany.
Livestock farmer and director of the elchozo.com project.
R+D+I Department
Juan Pablo Martín
Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences, a Master’s in Environmental Management, and Advanced Technician in Construction Projects with over 10 years of experience in preparing and executing R+D+i projects.
Juan Pablo has participated directly in more than 40 innovation projects in recent years and has collaborated with the European Commission as an evaluator for European projects.
He also has extensive experience in environmental work, principally focussing on biodiversity and impact evaluation studies.
Environmental engineering technician
Montserrat Gil
Bachelor’s degree in Biology and with more than 15 years of professional experience in the area of environmental research, conservation and consultancy. During her career in research, her principal interest has been in animal ethology and ecology, combined with work and studies for rural development and nature conservation, and participating in conservation and reintroduction schemes for endangered species, furnishing her experience in handling wild fauna. With regard to academic work, she was awarded certification in Research Competence by the doctoral programme: Animal and Human Behaviour: an Ethological Perspective, by the Complutense University of Madrid. During this period, a highlight was her stay in the Peruvian Amazon, where she carried out a monitoring study for different species of primates, on behalf of the Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Department of the German Primate Centre (DPZ). She also participated in several conferences, and has collaborated on different scientific publications and papers.
In the field of environmental consultancy, she possesses extensive experience at both national and international level, in carrying out technical fauna monitoring studies, scientific ringing campaigns, using geographical information systems, environmental monitoring for infrastructures of different types and environmental procedures, among others.
Environmental engineering technician
Antonio Calvo
With a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering and a Master’s in Business Studies, he has dedicated a major part of his career to engineering in several telecoms multinationals over more than 20 years, and taught university courses on Telematic Engineering for 10 years.
As the “team ornithologist”, he is responsible mainly for developing avifaunal studies linked to EIAs or environmental monitoring plans, as well as participating in the conservation programme for steppe-dwelling birds in Extremadura.
Over recent years, he has worked on different conservation programmes for the authorities and different NGOs, all of them linked to his great passion, birds and conservation of their habitats.
Innovation and Participation technician
Roberto Ballesteros
His academic training focussed on Agrobiological Research (Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Extremadura and Master’s in Agriculture from Utah State University, USA).
As professional experience, he has spent 15 years developing agroenvironmental R+D projects: Agricultural Research Service of the Extremadura Regional Government and Nestlé Group (Spain and Brazil).
Since the year 2000, as an independent consultant, he has pursued multisector business innovation projects, focussing on innovation and internationalisation processes for SMEs and MicroSMEs.
Since February 2018, he has supported agroindustrial and agroenvironmental projects as an external collaborator, with a commitment to sustainability, rural development and solutions to rural depopulation.