As a tenured researcher at the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research (IVIA) hired by Grupo Tragsa since 09/2020, I am directly involved in the Classical Biological Control (CBC) program of the exotic mealybug, Delettococcus aberiae, a citrus key pest in the Mediterranean basin. I am currently located in South Africa in a 6-month research stay (11/2021 to 05/2022), surveying D. aberiare parasitoids and conducting different efficacy and non-target studies on-site to select potential parasitoids to be introduced into Spain. This is not the first time I have been part of a CBC program. In 2018, I worked for 8 months as a tenured researcher at the Canarian Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA) (Spain), dealing with the CBC of the African Citrus Psylid, Trioza erytreae (I produced 2 SCI papers + 1 submitted, in all 1st and corresponding author). The studies I carried out with T. dryi made it possible to obtain the required official permissions for its field release. These two research projects have provided me with the knowledge, experience, and qualities to perform CBC programs from start to completion, including all administrative and legal requirements.

I stayed between these two CBC projects for 1 year and 8 months as a postdoctoral associate at Rutgers University (USA; 01/2019 to 09/2020). I worked on 3 different research projects about the behavioral ecology of the invasive pest, Drosophila suzukii, and its beneficial enemies. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to start and lead other 2 research projects independently, both based in achievements made by me in this period. One, on plant volatiles, based a new fungal repellent for D. suzukii. Another project on nutritional ecology focused on plant guttation as a highly reliable plant-derived food source for insects. Unfortunately, due to the Covid pandemic, I had to return to Spain and hand over the leadership of both projects to my direct supervisor there, Prof. Rodriguez-Saona. However, I am still collaborating on both projects (i.e., supervising 1 Master and 1 PhD student). Fruit of my post-doc stay at Rutgers is that I have published 5 SCI articles (+2 submitted). In addition, the research line based on the fungal repellent has been sent (pending resolution) as a research project to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). My stay at Rutgers, in addition to expanding my knowledge on plant-insect interactions, also consolidated my leadership and independence since it allowed me to experience first-hand what it is like to write and prepare a proposal for a research project about Plant guttation from start to finish (i.e. ERC-Starting Grant and Marie-Curie Fellowship).

In 2017, I obtained my PhD from the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) with a scholarship granted by the Spanish Government. My PhD was focused on the effect of climate change in citrus mite community, of which I have published 3 SCI articles. During my PhD I conducted 4-month research stay in 2016 at the University of Florida (USA), where I studied the suitability of the most used citrus rootstocks in Europe to the Asian Citrus Psyllid Diaphorina citri (1 SCI). My Master thesis was focused on ‘ Nutritional ecology of zoophytophagous predators in tomato crops’, which was conducted at IVIA. In addition, I expanded my research formation thanks to a scholarship I got from UJI to stay at IVIA. I published 4 SCI articles during this period, and I participated in a patent as inventor/author.

In summary, throughout my scientific career, I have made significant contributions in Biological Control, Behavioral, and Nutritional Ecology fields. I have co-authored 1 patent and 15 articles (+3 submitted) in SCI journals (89% as 1st author, and 72 % as the corresponding author), and highlight that 12 out of my 15 articles have been published since 2019. I like to communicate the results of my work, and the result of the enthusiasm I try to convey are 2 awards for the best oral communication in 2 different scientific congresses.

I have supervised 4 Graduate students (2013-14 at UJI, and 2 in 2019 at Rutgers University), 3 Master students (2016 at UJI, and currently 2 ongoings at Rutgers University and IVIA), and 1 PhD (currently ongoing at Rutgers University). Also, I was on the organizing committee of the 5th meeting, ‘Integrated control of mite pest’ of the IOBC, and I organized and moderated 4 research symposiums (3 at Entomological Society of America and 1 at International Society of Chemical Ecology). In addition, I am a reviewer for different scientific journals (i.e., J. Pest Sci., Front. Plant Sci., Biol. Control, among others), board member in the journal ‘Insects’, and Guest Editor of a Special Issue in the journal ‘Biology’. I also have a significant teaching activity, with over 125 hours of undergraduate-level lectures already fulfilled. Since 2019 I have been accredited by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities for the positions of Profesor Ayudante Doctor.