The researcher Alberto Fernández-Pérez, who developed his doctoral research at IHCantabria, will be awarded the De Paepe-Willems Prize of PIANC

Postdoctoral researcher Alberto Fernández-Pérez will be awarded the De Paepe-Willems Prize by the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC) for his study entitled “Risk-based assessment of climate change adaptation strategies for the European port system”.

This award is given annually by PIANC, in honor of Gustave Willems and Robert De Paepe, with the aim of encouraging the participation of young professionals and researchers under 40 years of age, to encourage the presentation of original and practical work in the fields of port and coastal engineering. Alberto will receive the award on May 15 in Busan, South Korea. He is the fourth Spanish researcher to receive the award in 39 editions, after Jose Ramon Iribarren (1998), Francisco Martin Gallego (1999) and Javier Lopez Lara (2005), the latter two are professors at the University of Cantabria and researchers at IHCantabria.

Currently, Alberto is a postdoctoral researcher at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford, where he joined in October 2024. Until then, he was linked to the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of the University of Cantabria(IHCantabria), where he studied the PhD program in “Coastal Engineering, Hydrobiology and Management of Aquatic Systems” of the University of Cantabria (IH2O Programme), under the supervision of Professors Íñigo Losada and Javier López Lara.

Innovative research in the field of port and coastal engineering

The study for which Fernández-Pérez will be awarded, addresses the effects of climate change on major European ports, through the development of an innovative methodology developed during his PhD. The work assesses the vulnerability of European port infrastructures to climate change, analyzes the most relevant physical risks to which ports are exposed now and in the future, due to climate change, and proposes a catalog of specific adaptation strategies for each port location, with the aim of reducing the most relevant climate risks. The objective is to characterize, at European level, the need for adaptation in port infrastructures, and to identify the type of measure and quantify its cost. The methodology, applied at European level, allows a diagnosis for the prioritization of investments, in a first approximation, to subsequently carry out adaptation plans for each individual port, in more detailed studies.

One of the most significant results derived from the analysis of the impacts produced by extreme climate events and the effect of compound events (formed by the simultaneous action of several climate events), is that the port infrastructures of the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea will face greater risks from this climate variability, due to the increase in sea level and winter storms, reducing the operating capacity of the ports. The paper recommends a comprehensive adaptation of the different infrastructures, including, for example, improvements in drainage, flood defenses and overtopping, as well as the relocation of port services, with the aim of strengthening port resilience at the European level and reducing the risks of climate change. “By providing a comprehensive risk assessment and adaptation strategies, this study helps to generate a prioritization strategy for adaptation at the European level to increase the resilience of port infrastructure to climate change,” explains Fernandez-Perez.

During his doctoral research at IHCantabria, Alberto developed this methodology and the results of his research were published in scientific journals, such as Coastal Engineeringin articles that reported the analysis of the combined effects of waves, sea level and wind recorded in ports of the Principality of Asturias and Galicia, with the prospect of extending the impact of his study to other regions and types of infrastructures.

Gratitude and recognition of the research legacy in IHCantabria

Upon receiving the news of his award, Alberto Fernández-Pérez expressed his gratitude to PIANC: “Receiving this award is, without a doubt, one of the greatest achievements that can be made in research within the field of coastal and port engineering. It is an enormous honor that PIANC has considered my work to be worthy of this recognition. On a personal level, it is the finishing touch to the work carried out during my doctoral studies at IHCantabria“.

Fernández-Pérez is also grateful for the support received at IHCantabria, because “this award not only reflects the quality of the research, but also the extraordinary human potential at IHCantabria. Without the support and guidance of my thesis directors, Javier López Lara and Íñigo Losada, as well as the collaboration and advice of the research group with which I worked for the last five years, this achievement would not have been possible. It is also an opportunity to look back to 2019, when I joined IHCantabria, and acknowledge the fundamental role the center has played in my training. Its support allowed me to carry out my predoctoral research stage in Oxford, where I was able to nourish myself with new knowledge that enriched the awarded work and contributed to my growth as a researcher. This recognition is, in short, a reflection of the joint effort and commitment to quality in research”.

Biography of Alberto Fernández-Pérez

Alberto Fernández-Pérez joined the ECI at the University of Oxford as a postdoctoral researcher in October 2024. His current research focuses on the analysis of interdependencies between various transport and energy systems, with the aim of identifying strategies to strengthen the resilience of these networks to climate stressors. He is applying dynamic network analysis and flow modeling to understand how disruptions in one sector can affect others and lead to systemic failures. Its goal is to develop holistic adaptation plans that not only mitigate risks, but also promote the long-term sustainability and robustness of critical infrastructure systems.

Previously, he was linked to IHCantabria as a predoctoral researcher. In the fall of 2024 he obtained his PhD degree, at the University of Cantabria, after defending a thesis focused on the “Development of adaptive and flexible strategies for coastal and port infrastructures in the face of climate change”. In that research, he emphasized a complex risk analysis, taking into account the dynamic and interconnected nature of environmental, social and economic factors, in the development of resilient adaptation plans.

The De Paepe-Willems Award that Fernandez-Perez will receive from PIANC reinforces the relevance of his research in the adaptation of port infrastructure to climate change and highlights the importance of continuing to develop innovative solutions for port resilience, globally.