Joan graduated from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2007 and completed his PhD at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF) in Barcelona in 2014. Following his doctorate, he undertook postdoctoral research in several laboratories across Europe, Australia, and the United States. He currently serves as professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) and will soon take up a Ramón y Cajal position at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Alva is a BSc in Biology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2022) and a MSc in Biodiversity from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2023). Both their Undergraduate and Master theses were focused on the taxonomy and phylogeny of Croton, a large pantropical genus of trees and shrubs within the Euphorbiaceae, and were conducted through internships at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. After the completion of their MSc studies, they undertook an Erasmus+ traineeship at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change at Hamburg. Alva is currently doing their PhD on the systematics, taxonomy, conservation and evolution of Croton across the Old World, besides studying a second MSc in Epistemology of the Natural Sciences at Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Funded by FPI-UAM PhD grant.

Rubén obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Complutense University of Madrid, and later completed a Master’s degree in Zoology at the same institution in 2022. His academic training has focused on zoology, ecology, and biodiversity conservation, with particular emphasis on scientific research and the analysis of ecological and evolutionary data.

He currently participates in multiple projects analyzing the morphological, behavioral, and genomic responses of birds to urban environments. He has experience in avian fieldwork, including capture, handling, scientific ringing, and migratory tracking, as well as in the analysis of ecological, biogeographical, and spatial data, integrating methodologies from molecular biology, bioinformatics, and morphometrics.

Funded by the project 2022-T1/AMB-24171, from Comunidad de Madrid.

He obtained his degree in Biology from the University of Jaén in 2024. He subsequently completed a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid in 2025.

Although his postgraduate training focused on conservation biology, his scientific interests have recently been oriented toward evolutionary biology, with a particular interest in the mechanisms of adaptation and diversification in insular systems and urban environments. He is currently working on the adaptation of corvids in islands and cities.

Funded by the project 2022-T1/AMB-24171, from Comunidad de Madrid.

María graduated with honors in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2024. After several months working as a research assistant in the university’s herbarium collections, she transitioned to ornithological research, focusing on the environmental factors that modulates acoustic signals of flycatchers.

She is currently working on the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape acoustic signals in magpies (genus Pica), integrating behavioral, environmental, and comparative approaches

Inés graduated from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 2019. In June and July 2023, she worked at the Ayotlcalli Sea Turtle Conservation Camp in Guerrero, Mexico, where she monitored nesting activity on beaches and relocated nests to protected hatchery enclosures.

From September 2023 to March 2024, she was a resident volunteer at the Iberian Lynx Breeding Center in Extremadura, contributing to video-based behavioral monitoring of captive individuals. She also participated in GREFA’s orphaned wildlife rehabilitation campaigns during the 2024 and 2025 breeding seasons.

She currently works on the behavioral effects of urbanization in magpies.

Funded by SEO- Birdlife

Xabier graduated in Biology the 2025 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). During his undergraduate studies, he carried out his internships in the Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology, and Animal Physiology at the Faculty of Science and Technology of UPV/EHU, specifically in the Bivalve Physiology laboratories.

His Bachelor’s Thesis, awarded with honors, focused on the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis). The thesis was conducted with the same Bivalve Physiology research group (“Physiotox”) in which he completed his internships, as part of the project Pollution impact on oyster bioextraction: Nature-based Solution for the Mar Menor Lagoon (MIToYSTER). 

He is currently working on venom evolution in snakes.

Héctor completed his degree in Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2025 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Zoology at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Throughout his training, he has developed skills in reptile fieldwork, thermal biology, and the use of bioinformatic tools.

His research currently focuses on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cognition, bridging neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology.