Posts in the Students category:

Research project, Students

Se busca candidato/a para hacer la tesis doctoral

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Se busca una persona, con alta motivación y capacidad de trabajar en equipo, interesada en realizar la tesis doctoral sobre el manejo sostenible de sistemas agrícolas en ambientes semiáridos. Concretamente, en el proyecto de investigación se incluyen diversos aspectos biofísicos (regeneración del suelo, mejora de la fertilidad y secuestro de carbono, biodiversidad, estado hídrico y nutricional del cultivo, producción, control de la erosión y regulación de los ciclos hidrológicos, y mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático) y socio-económicos (análisis coste-beneficio, externalidades) que ayudaran a demostrar los múltiples beneficios de convertir sistemas convencionales de monocultivo de leñosas de secano (almendros) en sistemas diversificados (que combinen varios cultivos), en combinación con abonados verdes e integrados (manejando la cubierta vegetal con ganadería). La propuesta de tesis se enmarca en el proyecto del Plan Nacional: “DEMOSTRANDO Y EVALUANDO PRÁCTICAS AGRÍCOLAS SOSTENIBLES PARA OPTIMIZAR LOS SERVICIOS ECOSISTEMICOS EN SISTEMAS LEÑOSOS DE SECANO”

La tesis se llevaría a cabo en el Departamento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua del Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS-CSIC) en Murcia en colaboración con el Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Forestales del IFAPA Camino de Purchil en Granada, y el trabajo de campo se realizaría en varias fincas localizadas entre Murcia, Almería y Granada.

Requisitos:

Licenciatura en Ciencias Ambientales, Biología o Agronomía posterior a 2017 (nota mínima equivalente a un 8 sobre 10).

  • Matrícula en un programa de doctorado del curso 2021/2022 o bien preinscripción, admisión o matriculación en un programa de doctorado del curso 2022/2023
  • Empadronados/as en el municipio de la Región de Murcia al menos desde el 1 de enero de 2021.
  • Los/las interesados/as pueden contactar por e-mail enviando su Curriculum Vitae, una carta de motivación, y la nota de expediente académico antes del día 24 de septiembre 2022.

Contactos:

María Martínez-Mena (mmena@cebas.csic.es)

María Almagro (maria.almagro.bonmati@juntadeandalucia.es)

Research project, Students

Se busca candidato/a para la convocatoria 2020 de contratos predoctorales FPU para realizar una tesis doctoral en el campo de la Agricultura Sostenible

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Se busca graduado en Biología, Ciencias Ambientales o Agronomía con expediente igual o superior a 8,5 para la realización de una Tesis Doctoral en el ámbito del proyecto europeo Diverfarming: “Crop diversification and low-input farming across Europe: from practitioners’ engagement and ecosystems services to increased revenues and value chain organisation”, así como en diversos proyectos de investigación regionales y nacionales.

La propuesta de tesis pretende identificar soluciones sostenibles de manejo de suelo y agua adaptadas a las condiciones locales para optimizar la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos de los sistemas agrícolas de secano y regadío de ambientes semiáridos: i) de soporte, tales como la formación y regeneración del suelo; ii) de regulación, tales como el control de la erosión, el secuestro de carbono y la mejora de la capacidad de retención hídrica del suelo; y iii) de aprovisionamiento, como la producción de alimento. La hipótesis de partida es que incrementando el contenido de carbono orgánico en suelos agrícolas a través de prácticas de manejo sostenibles contribuiremos a mejorar su salud y su funcionalidad, y por tanto a recuperar algunos de los servicios esenciales que nos proporciona. A su vez, la mejora de la calidad física, química y biológica del suelo mediante la adopción de prácticas agrícolas sostenibles tales como la labranza reducida, el uso de cubiertas vegetales, la retención de residuos agrícolas y la diversificación de cultivos contribuirán a la lucha contra la degradación de la tierra y el cambio climático. Se pretende avanzar en el conocimiento de los mecanismos de estabilización del carbono orgánico del suelo bajo diferentes escenarios de manejo y condiciones locales.

La tesis se realizará en el Departamento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua del Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS-CSIC) en Murcia, bajo la supervisión de María Martínez-Mena y María Almagro, y el trabajo de campo se realizaría en varias fincas localizadas en Murcia y Granada.

Las bases de la convocatoria pueden consultarse aquí.

La selección de candidatos/as tiene lugar en dos fases. En una primera fase se evalúa el expediente académico del candidato/a, y, una vez superada la primera fase, se evalúan los contenidos de la propuesta científica y el CV del equipo receptor y director/a(s) de tesis. Los candidatos/as que buscamos deben cumplir los siguientes requisitos mínimos:

  • Grado o Máster en Biología, Ciencias Ambientales o disciplinas afines.
  • Fecha de finalización de estudios posterior al 1 de enero de 2017.
  • Nota media superior a 8,5 (grado).
  • Motivación por la carrera científica e interés en la Agricultura Sostenible y en la Ecología del Suelo.
  • Buen nivel de inglés (mínimo B2) y carnet de conducir (B).

Los/as interesados/as pueden enviar su CV a María Almagro (mbonmati@cebas.csic.es) y María Martínez-Mena (mmena@cebas.csic.es)

Education, Students

Student visiting from University of Twente (Netherlands)

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Luca Furii is an Italian MSc Civil Engineering student, Water Management profile, at the University of Twente (the Netherlands). During his stay at CEBAS-CSIC he will be working on the implementation of Sustainable Land Management techniques within the Campo de Cartagena to improve water usage in intensive irrigated agriculture. Techniques as crop rotation and scheduling irrigation will be deployed and assessed by means of the hydrological model SPHY.  Supervision and guidance are provided by Joris Eekhout and Prof M.J Booij of the University of Twente.

Education, Students

Student visiting from Wageningen University (Netherlands)

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Pieter Barneveld is an MSc student International Land and Water Management from Wageningen University (The Netherlands) and will do his thesis research here at CEBAS-CSIC. During his stay, he will focus on the implementation of buffer strips in the Campo de Cartagena area within the SPHY model. The main goal of this study is to assess the effect of buffer strips on the water quality in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon. This will make it easier for policy makers to show farmers the potential communal benefit of the buffer strips. This project is planned to be completed in July. Supervision and guidance are provided by Joris Eekhout and Jantiene Baartman of the Soil Physics and Land Management group of Wageningen University.

Education, Students

Student visiting from Wageningen University (Netherlands)

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Thedmer Postma is a student in Geo-Information Sciences from Wageningen University and will do his academic internship for the coming 6 months. During his stay, he will primarily focus on developing a methodology for unsupervised land cover classification using satellite imagery to distinguish irrigated vs rainfed agricultural areas in the Campo de Cartagena area. During the research he will use the Google Earth Engine for satellite data gathering, classification and validation tasks. The second goal is to incorporate the methodology developed into a Google Earth Engine application. After completing his internship in July he will have obtained his Masters’ degree and his long career as a student will officially be over. Supervision and guidance are provided by Javier Martínez-López and Sytze de Bruin of the Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing at Wageningen University.

Guests, Students

Visiting student with a EIT Food RIS fellowship

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Birce Azizli is a Turkish PhD student in Kaposvar University-Hungary. Her major is Environmental Economics and she will spend an internship period within CEBAS for 4 months until the end of December 2019 in scope of EIT Food RIS Fellowship Programme. The target of her stay is to obtain a broader knowledge about agroecology and to integrate this in her own major. Birce is now working on economic valuation of the ecosystem services- particularly soil and sediment carbon sequestration- and the adaptability of these practices in Southern Spain under the supervision of Carolina Boix-Fayos.

Education, Students

Student visiting from Wageningen University (Netherlands)

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Eva Lansu, an Earth and Environment student from Wageningen University (The Netherlands), is doing her four month internship at our research group. She is working on a project about CO2 respiration of sediments. The study area is an almond orchard 16 km east of Murcia. During heavy rain events, the area turns into a river bed. Then, both erosion and sediment deposition take place. Eva has been measuring respiration of sediments after rain events and doing experiments in the laboratory. She will try to relate respiration to sediment properties, like soil moisture and organic carbon content, in order to better understand which factors enhance respiration. Besides working on her own project, she enjoys going into the field and helping with laboratory work for the various projects of the research group. At the end of December, Eva will finish her internship and complete her master’s degree, as this internship forms the last part of her studies. Supervision and guidance are provided by Maria Martinez-Mena and the Soil Physics and Land Management group of Wageningen University.

Education, Students

Beca de introducción a la investigación: JAE INTRO 2019

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Si te apetece tomar contacto con la carrera científica y trabajar identificando estrategias de utilización del agua y nutrientes en especies semiáridas y su respuesta al cambio climático, solicita un JAE intro con nosotros en el área de Recursos Naturales: REF: JAEINT19_EX_0749

El trabajo se centra en estudiar la relación entre la diversidad de estrategias de uso del agua de las diferentes especies que componen una comunidad y los factores ambientales que más se verán afectados por el cambio climático (precipitación y temperatura), así como sobre los procesos de descomposición de la materia orgánica, para entender la capacidad de adaptación de las especies y comunidades forestales y arbustivas a un aumento de aridez y las implicaciones en el ciclo del carbono.

Contacto: querejeta@cebas.csic.es; iprieto@cebas.csic.es

Education, Outreach, Students

New MOOC on Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Landscape Restoration

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You can now subscribe and start our second Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Landscape Restoration. We developed this MOOC with our partners from the European Network for the Advancement of Business and Landscape Education (ENABLE).

The course is launched today, 14 February, and is open for all and free of charge. This is the second MOOC co-created by the ENABLE consortium members. It builds upon ENABLE’s first MOOC, which offered comprehensive knowledge of landscape degradation and restoration from the perspectives of natural sciences, economics and business administration.

This new MOOC is transdisciplinary, designed for environmental and business students, professionals, as well as anyone with an interest in landscape restoration based on sustainable business models. The course takes a partnership approach to take on the challenge of large-scale landscape restoration, reflecting the interconnectedness of ecology, society and economy in landscape management – supporting wellbeing of people and the planet.

This eight-week online course aims to equip learners with practical business tools to restore landscapes. In the course, participants are encouraged to go through the business model innovation process in small groups of their choice, based on a common interest. The course is designed in three phases that move the participants from ideas towards the successful implementation of a new business model for sustainable landscape restoration based on four different returns: return of natural and social capital, return of inspiration and return of financial capital. Each step of the process is illustrated with three real-life cases of landscape restoration to show how the theory looks in practice. These cases are: a case about crop diversification and low input farming in Spain; a large-scale woodland restoration case in Iceland; and a case about the challenges of recovering from forest fires in Portugal.

Worsening land degradation caused by human activities is undermining the well-being of two-fifths of humanity, driving species extinctions and intensifying climate change (IPBES). But there’s a huge potential for restoring landscapes: around two billion hectares of land, about two times the size of China, can be restored. This free online course aims to equip learners from environmental, business or other backgrounds with practical business tools to restore landscapes.

You can now start the course and work on solutions for landscape restoration – one of the biggest challenge of our time. For more information, watch the trailer and see the ENABLE website, and its Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. You can register for the course here.

ENABLE is a strategic partnership of organizations in the private, public and non-profit sector, and is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The partnership is led by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and consists of the Spanish National Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC), Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme (UNU-LRT), and Nova School of Business and Economics.

Guests, Students

Student visiting from Wageningen University (Netherlands)

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Jessica Snoek is a Dutch MSc student from Wageningen University and Research (the Netherlands) and will do her internship for four months during the winter (December – March). She is doing fieldwork at multiple locations related to the Diverfarming project, helping out in the lab to analyse soil samples and has her own small research on erosion triggered by rainfall events in the Rogativa catchment (upper Segura). During her time in Murcia she aims to practice as many hands-on research methods as possible, gain insight in the possibility of becoming a researcher, learn as much Spanish as she can and complete her master’s degree.
The internship is supervised by Maria Martinez-Mena and Carolina Boix-Fayos in combination with the Soil Physics and Land Management group (SLM) at Wageningen University.