I am a social science researcher and my chief interest is on governance, innovation and technology development with special interest in energy, climate change and sustainability.
I have a background in economics (Argentina) and I have taken postgraduate studies in Science and Technology for Sustainability in SPRU, University of Sussex (UK). I am actually enrolled as PhD student at the Institute for Local Development (Spain) while I am research associate at the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Management INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) under a EU-sponsored project. As part of my research activity, I joined the Group of Energy and Environmental Research (GreeIN) and I have done research stays in the Twente Centre for Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development – University of Twente Enschede (Netherlands) and the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) – University of Manchester (UK).
I have contributed to research projects at SPRU on natural resource based innovation and development of indicators on regional and industrial system of innovation. I am involved in applied research as well as learning and knowledge management activities regarding the aplicaction of Socio-Technical Transtion approach within the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC) initiative. I have also experience as academic coordinator for professional education and postgraduate courses as well as consultant on innovation, regional policy, sustainability and energy efficiency issues for public and private organizations in Europe and South America.
Personal web here
I arrived at INGENIO from the UK with no scholarship and a preliminary PhD proposal on a topic, environmental innovation, that was relatively novel to the institute at the time. Before the end of the first year as a Ph.D. student I had the opportunity of becoming involved in a research project funded by the Framework Program of the European Commission. My participation in the project made a big difference for my professional life: therein I gained experience in collecting and analyzing data, designing more research proposals. In this process I also learned from failure, joined several international projects and completed my PhD. A week after my Viva, I got my current job in Brussels for the main EU initiative on Climate Change.
This professional trajectory reflects a lot also the evolution of INGENIO and of its research staff, from whom I learned that contradictions are just another way to see opportunities. The mix of different people regarding knowledge, background and capacities combined with dynamics of a relatively young organization provides a favourable as well as challenging context for those who are prepared to experiment with ideas and explore different paths towards developing new skills.