Celina Aznarez

Celina holds since 2019 a Licentiate degree in Environmental Management from the University of the Republic (Uruguay). Between 2015 and 2018 she worked on different problem-related projects, mainly on local territorial-productive conflicts in Uruguay ranging from water quality affection, participatory ecosystem services assessments, climate change in coastal areas, and tourist-driven gentrification. Also, between 2016 and 2018 she worked as a teaching assistant and co-responsible for courses in the Licentiate degree of Environmental Management (Uruguay).

From 2017 to 2018, she conducted research funded by the Scientific Research Sectorial Commission (CSIC) to analyse the distributional patterns of ecosystem services in the Maldonado River wetland (a key area for conservation in Uruguay) from an ecological-distributive perspective. In her previous research, she addressed the socio-cultural valuation and distribution of ecosystem services in a gentrified coastal landscape in Eastern Uruguay, for which she obtained the first prize for the (degree) thesis category, in the National Urbanism Prize (2019), awarded by the Uruguayan Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment. https://youtu.be/SfXlfNWmdJU

Since mid-2018 she moved to Denmark and collaborated in research activities on the project “Climate change effects on phytoplankton and periphyton in streams and shallow lakes” (Aarhus University-Sino Danish Center). In this, she acquired experience in ecology experimental research, and laboratory activities complimenting her field background with basic science research. Further, she collaborated with international researchers on hydrological modelling of ecosystem services.

In 2020, she was awarded an INPHINIT fellowship from the “La Caixa” foundation (2020) to join the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and ICTA-UAB to develop her PhD thesis. In her doctoral research, she explores the biodiversity contributions sustaining urban green infrastructure multifunctionality in ecosystem services provision through the lens of environmental justice.