LINARES CALDERON, JUAN CARLOS

My scientific activity is devoted to the understanding of the adaptive capacity of forest ecosystems to climate change. I have focused mainly on field data and climatic analysis, accounting for a wide range of ecological scales, from the landscape to the tree physiology. I currently lead the Dendroecology and Ecophysiology Lab of the University Pablo de Olavide (Seville), where we have steadily increased the scale and complexity of our studies on forest dynamics. Thus, I have led research projects covering the whole range of several tree species, conducting studies in forests from different regions of Spain, Morocco, Chile, Turkey, Iran, Finland and Switzerland. In addition to these international researches, I have conducted several research stays as a Visiting Fellow. The results of these studies are challenging the current paradigm that predicts increasing forests carbon sinks and water use efficiency in response to the global atmospheric CO₂ rise. Besides, our long-term researches highlighting the importance of forest management, as a modulating factor of the responses of drought-sensitive tree species to climate change. Recently, we are also accounting for the role of genetic diversity and epigenetic mechanisms involved in forest decline. Since I got my PhD in Sciences (2008), I have published 84 articles (WoS), 50 in Open Access, in journals such as PNAS, Global Change Biology, Journal of Ecology, Global Ecology and Biogeography. These publications have received above three thousand citations in the last five years, including three “Highly cited” articles. Indeed, I am included as a highly cited author in Ioannidis et al. (2020). We must add more than twenty divulgation articles; more than a dozen book chapters and more than fifty communications in national and international scientific meetings (three of them as Invited Speaker). I have participated in 23 research projects (18 national and 5 international), eight of them as principal investigator (PI), and 2 research contrats (1 as PI). I devote substantial efforts to mentor the next generation of scientists and students. I have supervised four PhD students (currently supervising five more), more than a dozen MsC, BsC students and post-doctoral researchers. Several undergraduates perform research activities in our lab, as well as visitors from Spain and abroad who have conducted research stays. I have participated in committees of the ANEP for research projects evaluation, as well as in the committees for evaluation of postdoctoral fellowships JdC/RyC since 2012.

I devote substantial efforts to mentor the next generation of scientists and students. My academic career means balancing the demands of teaching with research goals, starting as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (FPU, 2004) and later as an Assistant Professor (2008-2012) in the Pablo de Olavide University. My current teaching activity, as an Associate Professor of Ecology, relies on the Bachelor of Environmental Sciences and Master of Climate Change, Carbon and Water Resources, and Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. I have supervised four PhD students (currently supervising five more), about a dozen MsC, BsC students and post-doctoral researchers. Several undergraduates perform research activities in our lab, as well as visitors from Spain and abroad who have conducted research stays. The quality of my teaching activity has been positively evaluated through the DOCENTIA program of the University Pablo de Olavide (2005-2010, 2011-2015); the students’ surveys yield an average score of 4.39 (over 5 points), which is above the average ratings of the academic staff. I have published 4 book chapters for university students and forestry technicians and 2 articles on teaching innovation; I have also experience of leading researchers on active learning methods, participating in 3 Teaching Innovation Projects and presenting communications to 3 Teaching Innovation Workshops. I have skilled my teaching training through University Specialist courses in Teaching Innovation in Higher European Education Area.