Principal investigators

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Antònia Casellas

Office: B9/1036
Tel: +34 935 81 30 67
antonia.casellas@uab.cat

Antònia Casellas is an Associate Professor of Geography at the UAB.  She holds a Ph.D in Urban Planning and Policy Development from Rutgers University, and degrees on planning, philosophy and communications. Her current research focuses on rethinking urban processes and economic development from the perspective of social and ecological viability. She has been a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2008-2013), and a Juan de la Cierva researcher at the Universitat de Lleida (2007-2008). Prior to joining the UAB she held positions as Visiting Professor in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, and the Departments of Geography and Government at New Mexico State University. She has been a Research Fellow in North American and European institutes and research centers, including the Institute for Policy studies at Johns Hopkins University, the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, Bonn International Center for Conversion in Germany, the Project on Industrial and Regional Economics, and the Centre for Urban and Policy Research at Rutgers University. She is currently the coordinator of the UAB’s Geography PhD programme.

Research lines: Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Urban processes and diverse economies / Socio-economic and environmental dimension of tourism /  Epistemological and methodological advances in territorial sustainability
ORCID iD | CV | Google Scholar | ResearchGate

Eduard Ariza Solé

Office: B9/1082
Tel: +34 935 81 14 59
eduard.ariza@uab.cat

Eduard Ariza Solé is an Associate Professor of Geography at the UAB. His research combines Human Geography and Environmental Science in the study of complex socio-ecological systems in coastal zones. His current research interests include drawing from complexity and Post-Normal Science to study and inform the governance of the land-sea continuum. He has been a Ramón y Cajal Researcher at the UAB (2015-2020) and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Researcher at Florida International University (2009-2011). He is currently the Coordinator of of the official master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the director of the Arctic Research Center of our university (CER ARCTIC), aimed at generating cutting-edge research to contribute to the quality of life of Arctic populations in the context of climate change. He has participated as an invited expert to the 15th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development organized by the United Nation Environment Programme-Coordinating Unit for the Mediterranean Action Plan.

Research lines: Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Coastal and Marine Socioecological system dynamics / Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring / Epistemological and methodological advances in territorial sustainability
ORCID iD | CV | ResearchGate | UAB Research Portal

Faculty

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 Antoni Durà Guimerà

Office: B9/1038
Tel: +34 581 1527
antoni.dura@uab.cat

Antoni Durà-Guimerà has been an Associate Professor (Professor titular) of Geography at the UAB since 1997. His scientific career initiated in 1988 as trainee research staff focused on Urban Geography (metropolitan dynamics, social geography and qualitative methods, residential mobility in the Barcelona area). During the 2000’s his research was oriented towards the analysis of urban networks and geo-economics axes (especially the Mediterranean Arc), and focused on European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) studies (mainly Cross-Border Cooperation). Toni has collaborated with academics from Europe and America from disciplines including Political Sciences, International Relations, Law and Sociology. He is a member of the European Network of Territorial Cooperation (RECOT) which has been decisive for the joint development of national and international projects. These collaborations have produced a number of scientific publications and the organization/participation of workshops on Euroregions and ETC. This activity has been carried out in part within the SGR Interfase research team. His other scholarly activities include: managing the scientific journal Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica; actions of knowledge transfer on urban issues and Territorial Cooperation with local administrations and the autonomic government; and supervising PhD theses.

Research lines: Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring
ORCID iD | ResearchGate | Google Scholar | UAB Research Portal

Ferran Pons Cànovas

Office: B2/119
Tel: +34 935 811 160
ferran.pons@uab.cat

Ferran Pons is a Tenured Associate Professor of Administrative Law at the UAB. His research focuses on coastal and ports management, territorial and urban planning, environmental protection, climate change, sanctioning administrative procedure, private property and audiovisual independent regulatory authorities. His current research interests include the capacity of the resilience of the coast to the impacts of climate change in the coastal legislation, marine environmental policy, maritime spatial planning, whistleblowers and sanctions and transparency. He is a member of the Menorcan Institute of Studies. He has drawn up numerous opinions and reports for public administrations on various issues. Ferran holds a Postgraduate degree in Real Estate and Urban Development Law (Pompeu Fabra University 1992) and a PhD in Law (UAB 1998).

Research lines: Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Coastal and Marine Socioecological system dynamics / Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring/ Urban processes and diverse economies

Françoise Breton

Office:
Tel: +34 93 581 35 49
Francoise.Breton@uab.cat

Françoise Breton is professor Emèritus and Honorary professor of the Geography Department at the UAB, and Honorary Director of CER-ARCTIC, the Arctic Research Center of the UAB. Her research focuses on the study and management of coastal and marine areas and their governance. She founded the Interfase research group in 1992 and collaborated on the first Environmental Audits and Agenda 21 in coastal municipalities and counties for the Diputació de Barcelona. In 2001 she won the European Environment Agency (EEA) call to lead the first European Topic Centre on the Terrestrial Environment from the UAB. She later led the expert group on indicators for litoral zones at the EU Working Group on Indicators and Data and collaborated in EEA international seminars and publications on European coasts and wetlands including Land and Ecosystem Accounts (LEAC) until 2010. Between 2010-2014 she coordinated the FP7 PEGASO project which built participative governance experiences to design integrated policies and actions for the coastal, marine and maritime zones of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Basins. She has collaborated with the French Research Institution IRD on research in Senegal on women in mangroves, small fisheries in Casamance and coastal vulnerabilities and social impacts in the Senegal Delta (PATEO project 2014-2019). In 2015, she was awarded two NILS Grants for research on marine mammals and societies in the Arctic and worked on the EU project Arcpath on the social representations of whales (2016-2020). In 2017, she founded the CER-ARCTIC Research Center at the UAB. Françoise has been a member of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Steering Committee of the Commission on Coastal Systems of The International Geographical Union (since 2005) and an Associate Researcher at the Stefansson Arctic Institute, Iceland (since 2017). In 2015 she received the Narcís Monturiol Medal and Plaque award from the Generalitat de Catalunya for outstanding contribution to the development of science and technology in Catalonia.

Research lines:  Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Coastal and Marine Socioecological system dynamics / Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring
ORCID iD

Jaume Fons Esteve

Office: B9/114
Tel: + 34 93 581 3520
jaume.fons@uab.cat

Jaume Fons-Esteve is a Research Support Technician in SGR INTERFASE who leads the groups participation in the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil systems. His research interests are related to the interaction between society and the environment. Moreover, his focus has moved from understanding the impacts of the most dynamic processes (e.g. impact of the CAP or urban sprawl) to problem-solving through nature-based solutions. Specifically, the design of green infrastructure in urban and periurban contexts with a multifunctional purpose (e.g. mitigation of urban vulnerability, increasing accessibility to high-quality environments and quiet areas). Jaume works with a diverse array of approaches suited to different scales of analysis: in situ data collection, remote sensing, modelling and, lately, citizen science (pictures from social networks or georeferenced tracks of trails). He has applied these methodologies in several research projects and specific contracts to provide policy support at a European scale. Jaume holds a PhD in Biology (Universitat de Barcelona) and has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Research lines: Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring / Urban processes and diverse economies
ORCID iD

Isabel Pont Castejon

Office:
Tel: +34 935 81 11 57
isabel.pont@uab.cat

Isabel Pont Castejón is a Professor of Administrative Law at Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB) with special interest and experience on environmental and sustainability policy, infrastructure management, and on the assessment of issues that require an inter/multidisciplinary approach. Alongside, teaching undergraduate and masters course on Environmental Law at the UAB her research activity spans the UAB and other Catalan, state and international universities. She has recently contributed to multidisciplinary research projects including Fertilecity and Pandemics at ICTA (Institut de Ciencia y Tecnologia Ambiental) and various projects on integrated coastal management and climate change with members of the UAB Department of Geography. She is an appointed member of the Consell per a la Integritat de la Recerca de Catalunya (CIR-CAT, vice-presIdent since 2019), Consell Acadèmic Assessor de l’Agenda 2030 (CAADA2030) de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona, Advisory Council of the Bar Association of Environmentalists of Catalonia and sits on the governing board of a Natural Park (Patronat dels Aiguamolls de l’Empordà). She belongs to the Group of Experts on Climate Change of Catalonia (CEDAT, Universitat Rovira I Virgili) and Observatorio de Políticas Ambientales.  Previously, she has been General Secretary of the UAB, a Member of its Ethics Committee, coordinated the Legal services of the Port Authority of Barcelona and secretary of the Joint Commission for Monitoring the enlargement of the Port, a magistrate of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, a member of the Legal Advisory Council of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Comissió jurídica Assessora), and a member of the Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible (CADS).

Research lines:  Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Coastal and Marine Socioecological system dynamics / Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring
ORCID iD | UAB Research Portal

Postdoctoral researchers

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Deisiane Delfino

Office:B9/1084
Tel: +34 935 814 808
deisiane.delfino@uab.cat

Deisiane is a Postdoctoral Researcher associated with SGR Interfase. Her current research is focused on adaptation to Climate Change in the Llobregat Delta and the co-production of knowledge with local actors. She is a specialist in the design and development of participatory methodologies and facilitation of workshops for the co-production of scientific knowledge. She has a degree and PhD in Geography.

Research lines: Climate Change governance and spatial analysis / Coastal and Marine Socioecological system dynamics / Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring / Urban processes and diverse economies / Epistemological and methodological advances in territorial sustainability
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Affiliated postdoctoral researchers

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 Francesco Maria Camonita

Office: European Documentation Center, UAB
francescomaria.camonita@uab.cat

Francesco Camonita’s research focuses on the topics of European Territorial Cooperation, the INTERREG programs and the governance and activities – on which he has authored a number of publications. His  other research interests include advancements in the European Integration debate and the democratisation of the EU, particularly through European Elections. He is an official collaborator of the European Documentation Center of UAB, where he participates in multiple activities both as speaker and moderator. Inside INTERFASE, he is a long-time member of the RECOT Network on European Territorial Cooperation. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence BACES (Barcelona Centre for European Studies) of Pompeu Fabra University. He holds a PhD in the field of Geography and European Studies (UAB, 2019) and has previously worked in the EUGov research team.

Research lines: Territorial sustainability and spatial restructuring
ORCID iD | ResearchGate | Academia | Google Scholar

PhD candidates

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 Anna Marín Puig

Escasez hídrica y conflictos socioambientales: el Caso de Aculeo (Chile) Analizado desde la perspectiva del Antropoceno (Water scarcity and socio-environmental conflicts: The case of Aculeo (Chile) analyzed from the anthropocene perspective)

Scholarship: Becas Chile
Supervisors: Antonia Casellas & Eduard Ariza
ResearchGate

Daniel Carrasco Bahamonde

Office:
Tel:
daniel.carrascob@e-campus.uab.cat

Geographies of development in Chiloé. Neoliberalism, glocalization and community economies

Scholarship: Beca de Doctorado en el Extranjero, Becas Chile (ANID)
Supervisors: Antònia Casellas
ResearchGate

Jade Zoghbi

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Liliana Solé Figueras

lilianasole88@gmail.com

Socio-ecological complexity and Ecosystem Services: an analysis of Ecosystem Services, coproduction and access in the case of Barcelona’s cruise ship tourism

Researchgate

Briana Bombana

brianaab@gmail.com

Co-production of indexes of beach management in the Catalan coast: A double-loop process of learning (2015-2019)

Scholarship: CAPES (Brazil)
Supervisor: Eduard Ariza
Researchgate

External collaborators →