Since 2015, I have been an ICREA Research Professor at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia, where I coordinate the Aquatic Ecology Group (GEA). I hold a PhD in Biology from the University of Girona (Spain). After completing my PhD, I carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Oslo (2006) and Aarhus University, Denmark (2006–2008). I subsequently worked as a Research Scientist at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Italy (2009–2012), was a Marie Curie Fellow at Aarhus University (2013–2015), and served as a Visiting Scientist at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey (2013).

Since founding GEA in 2015, the group has grown from three initial members to a team of 20 researchers. In 2023, GEA was recognized as a Grup de Recerca Consolidat by the Government of Catalonia. To date, the group has secured over 30 competitive research projects, supervised nine completed PhD theses, and published more than 100 scientific papers.

Our research focuses on the response of aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity to global changes. We use the organisms’ size structure, in combination with taxonomical approaches, to assess biodiversity and ecosystem processes. We are also interested in basic and applied aspects of ecological theories relating organisms’ body size, metabolism and temperature. Our research encompasses the entire trophic structure, from phytoplankton to fish, across various aquatic ecosystems, including lakes, rivers, and ponds. We employ complementary approaches such as experiments, latitudinal comparisons, and modeling to investigate these systems. An important line of our research is the study of the biodiversity and functioning of ponds ecosystems. Within this line, I have coordinated the EU H2020 project PONDERFUL with the main objective to use pond ecosystems as Nature Based Solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to protect biodiversity.