I graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Marine Science from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) in 2018 and with an international M.Sc. in Marine Biological Resources at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2023. From the start of my academic journey, I have been passionate about marine biodiversity and conservation, particularly marine megafauna.
I strengthened my interest in behavioural ecology through an Erasmus exchange in Italy during the final year of my bachelor’s, while my thesis, completed in Spain, focused on the conservation of pinnipeds and sirenians. After graduating, I undertook an Erasmus traineeship at the University of Pisa (Italy) and collaborated with researchers at the Biology Department, studying the spatial behaviour of satellite-tracked sea turtles. Alongside my research, I have always been passionate about languages, enjoying the opportunity to connect with different cultures during my studies abroad.
During my master’s, I specialised in Marine Conservation and Applied Megafauna Conservation, gaining expertise in marine mammal bioacoustics. My long-standing interest in pinnipeds and their behaviour motivated me to focus my thesis on their vocalisations. Using data from the SeaMonitor project at the Atlantic Technological University (Ireland), my master’s thesis first detected and described harbour and grey seal vocalisations in offshore waters in Ireland. I then undertook an Erasmus traineeship at the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre (MFRC), collaborating with the bioacoustics group on the STRAITS project.
I later worked as a Marine Mammal Ecologist (consultant) and am currently a PhD student at the MFRC, funded by the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme. My research, “Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in Irish waters: long-term study on their acoustic behaviour, distribution and threats, and the development of new tools to detect and monitor them”, continues and expands on my master’s work. It aims to build acoustic repertoires for both seal species, identify areas and periods of high acoustic activity, assess environmental and anthropogenic factors influencing their vocal behaviour, and develop automatic detectors to monitor them.
My research interests include marine mammals, sea turtles, bioacoustics, telemetry and habitat modelling, but I am also open to exploring new research topics.
