ERICA PELLÓN DE PABLO
Biography
Erica Pellón de Pablo obtained her PhD in Coastal Engineering, Hydrobiology, and Management of Aquatic Systems from the University of Cantabria in 2023. She also holds a degree in Civil Engineering, obtained in 2011 from the University of Cantabria. In 2006, she was awarded with the Gold Medal in the IX Technical Drawing Olympiad at the University of Cantabria. In 2012, she received the Prize of the Water and Environmental Sciences and Techniques Department (CYTAMA).
In the summer of 2010, she began her relationship with IHCantabria, working in the area of Submarine Outfalls and Environmental Hydraulics. During this period, she participated in projects related to water quality and the design of submarine outfalls.
During the 2010-11 academic year, she obtained a collaboration grant with IH Cantabria. Under this grant she started her work on beach morphodynamics and the data analysis of video imagery systems.
Between 2011 and 2013, she combined her work as a predoctoral researcher with pursuing a Master’s in Coastal and Port Engineering, conducting her research on the “Analysis of the finger bars on the intertidal zone of ‘El Puntal’ beach”. As a continuation of this work, she gave her first oral presentation at the RCEM 2012 scientific conference and published her first article in the journal Earth Surface Dynamics in 2014.
Since starting at IHCantabria in 2010, Erica has consistently carried out her research work (now with over 14 years of uninterrupted professional experience), attending various specialization courses in coastal morphodynamics, numerical modeling, and programming, and over 50 seminars on coastal engineering. Additionally, during this period, she has developed numerous consulting projects, which have allowed her to enhance her skills and experience in the fields of coastal morphodynamics, coastal hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and numerical modeling.
In 2017, she decided to expand her programming knowledge by starting a degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Cantabria. Erica has successfully balanced these studies with her work at IHCantabria, and thanks to the knowledge she has acquired, she has participated in the development of numerical models, including SMC and CHRONOS, which are tools that simulate coastal processes and the evolution of the coastline.
In October 2023, she defended her PhD thesis titled “Nature-based solutions to enhance beach recovery,” in which she analyzed two innovative assisted recovery techniques that provide wider beaches for tourism and coastal protection against erosion and flooding. The studied techniques are environmentally friendly and unexpensive solutions to enhance the resilience of our beaches. This work has been awarded the second Modesto Vigueras Prize 2024, and it has supported the publication of three scientific articles in high-impact journals and numerous presentations at national and international conferences.
RESEARCH LINES
Coastal processes
Sediment transport and coastal erosion
Beach stabilizations design
PUBLICATIONS
