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Narrative CV
My research focuses on understanding and modelling post-fire soil erosion, sediment connectivity, and hydrological processes across spatial and temporal scales, with the explicit aim of supporting mitigation, restoration, and risk-informed decision-making. Over the past years, my work has evolved from field-based experimentation and plot-to-catchment modelling in fire-affected Portuguese landscapes to national, European, and most recently, global-scale assessments of post-fire soil degradation. This path reflects my efforts to solve the fragmentation of post-fire impact assessments and to develop integrative approaches that remain scientifically robust while being operationally relevant.
In recent years, my research has reached the global scale through the development of large-scale modelling frameworks aiming to quantify post-fire soil erosion worldwide. This culminated in two closely connected, high-impact publications. A review paper on wildfire impacts on geomorphic processes published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, and a subsequent research article in Nature Geoscience presenting a global estimation of post-fire soil erosion based on nearly two decades of data. Together, these studies represent a major milestone in my scientific trajectory, providing the first consistent global quantification of post-fire soil erosion and firmly establishing the long-term and large-scale relevance of wildfire-driven soil degradation.
Over the last five years, my role as a researcher at the European Commission Joint Research Centre has expanded my activities beyond academic research into science–policy support. As a core contributor to the EU Soil Observatory, I played a direct role in the scientific underpinning and successful approval of the EU Soil Monitoring Law, including the explicit recognition of post-fire soil erosion impacts within its framework. This contribution required sustained institutional engagement and coordination across scientific, technical, and policy domains, and necessarily reduced the time available to produce additional peer-reviewed publications during this period. However, this shift reflects a deliberate prioritisation of policy-relevant impact at a critical moment for European soil governance, rather than a departure from scientific excellence.
As regards to my scientific performance, I currently have an h-index of 29 (Scopus), which reveals a good acceptance of my work by the scientific community, but also highlights relevance of my publications. Should also be highlighted the two students supervised by me, have managed to successfully defend their PhD (2024,2025), and the FEMME project for which I was PI, finished with a good impact in the field.
My networking capacity is relevant, being highly connected to the European Geosciences Union, and currently having a break following being chair of the Soils, Forest and Agriculture committee. Annually I convene two relevant sessions in the General Assembly, on Managing wildfires in a changing world, and on Soil Erosion, Land Degradation and Conservation. My appointment as Lead Author for IPCC AR7 (WGII, Chapter 14) and as author of a AR7 cross-chapter paper on Mediterranean climate further reinforces the relevance of my work at the interface of climate change, wildfire risk, and land degradation, particularly for fire-prone regions such as southern Europe.
This combination of long-standing national expertise, global-scale scientific leadership, and direct policy engagement uniquely positions me to address persistent post-fire management challenges Globally, where wildfire impacts span multiple spatial and temporal scales and where mitigation and restoration actions remain fragmented and non-systematic.