Outstanding participation of IHCantabria’s research staff in the XVII Jornadas Españolas de Ingeniería de Costas y Puertos (XVII Spanish Coastal and Port Engineering Conference)

“This conference is a meeting place for representatives from all sectors interested in coastal zone management (including public administrations, port authorities, consulting firms, construction companies, R&D centers and universities) to share problems, solutions, advances, results and achievements in their areas of research.” So says Raúl Medina, secretary of the Permanent Organizing Committee of this conference, general director of IHCantabria and professor at the University of Cantabria (UC).

Coastal zone management requires increasingly complex technical expertise to ensure the sustainability of its resources. Therefore, the planning of uses and resources is a shared responsibility between public administrations, port authorities, consultants, construction companies, R&D centers and universities. In order to facilitate meetings between representatives of all these sectors interested in coastal zone management, the Spanish Coastal and Port Engineering Conference has been held every two years since 1992, bringing together national and international experts from universities, administrations and companies.

The University of Cantabria was well represented at this conference with 43 oral communications, presented by IHCantabria research personnel, and another 9 were presented by members of other research centers of this university. IHCantabria stood out for the excellent participation of all its research staff who participated and attended the two-day event, held at the Palacio de Congresos in Ibiza.

In this XVII edition of the Spanish Coastal and Port Engineering Conference, the Professional Career Awards in Coastal and Port Engineering were given to the engineers Gregorio Gómez Pina and Rafael Soler Gayá. In addition, “all the technical innovations and the outstanding communications, presentations and collaborations presented during these two days have made this conference an unforgettable milestone,” says Raúl Medina. He also received public recognition on May 8, from the members of the Permanent Organizing Committee of this Conference, in appreciation of his hard work as promoter of this event since its first edition 32 years ago.

Topics addressed during this conference

The development of these conferences focused on 8 topics, each one with the presentation of oral communications by IHCantabria research personnel. Representatives from other UC research centers and several institutions also participated with papers and posters. In total, almost 200 papers and more than 470 people were registered for the two-day event.

On behalf of IHCantabria, 43 oral communications were presented: 5 were related to the first theme –entitled“Maritime Climate and Physical Oceanography”.-11 were framed in the second theme – “Environment, Discharges and Marine Water Quality”.-3, they were related to the third topic – “Maritime Works and Structures”. -3 others addressed the fourth theme -Coastal Processes and Actions on the Coast”.-3 were also the oral communications focused on the fifth topic – “Port Planning and Management”. -5 did so for the sixth theme -Integrated Coastal Management and Marine Spatial Planning”.-7 oral communications were framed in the seventh theme – “Climate Change and Adaptation Measures in Ports and Coasts“- and, around the eighth and last theme – “Marine Renewable Energies“- , IHCantabria participated with 6 oral communications.

Permanent Organizing Committee of this Conference

Permanent Secretary of this Organizing Committee is Raúl Medina Santamaría, General Director of IHCantabria. Other members of this Committee are: Ana Patricia García Fletcher (Directorate General for Sustainability of the Coast and Sea), Gonzalo Gómez Barquín (Puertos del Estado), M. Esther Gómez Martín (Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, UPV), José Manuel González Herrero (ACCIONA Ingeniería, S.A.), Jose María Grassa Garrido (CEDEX), Josep Ramón Medina Folgado (UPV), Adolfo Uriarte Villalba (Directorate of Natural Heritage and Climate Change).

The Local Organizing Committee was chaired by: Almudena Domínguez Garcés (Demarcation of Coasts in Illes Balears) and Javier Sanz Fernández (Port Authority of the Balearic Islands). As members, participated Lluís Gomez-Pujol (Universitat de les Illes Balears), Sara Lobato Rubio (Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos Illes Balears), Antonio Ginard López (Autoridad Portuaria de Baleares), Alejandro Orfila Förster (IMEDEA), Joaquín Tintoré Subirana (SOCIB) and Ana Yáñez Chapinal (Demarcación de Costas en Illes Balears).

For more information on this conference, please click on the following link: https://costasypuertos2024.com/