Senior Researcher

Research Centre on the Alpine Environment

Sion, Valais, Switzerland | Institutional website

Antonio is a senior researcher @CREALP, a research centre dedicated to addressing pressing challenges of the alpine environment, including societal issues in a climate change scenario, such as environmental risks, water management, geo-resources, renewable energies. He is also a research affiliate at the University of Lausanne, finding synergies with the Disaster Risk Reduction, Hazard Assessment, and Risk Analysis Group. Feel free to find here my contact details, Linkedin website and Google Scholar

Antonio’s vision aligns with providing innovative solutions to pressing challenges in the alpine environment, including answering to pressing societal questions under a changing climate scenario. He joined CREALP in 2020 as the managing director, where he established a roadmap and vision to guide, motivate, and inspire an outstanding team of 20 collaborators, secured the fiscal health of the organization with an annual budget of ~2 million Swiss Francs, and oversaw the different projects carried out by the thematic areas. He also provided expertise, built capacity, and secured funding in his areas of knowledge, supervised the recruitment and training of staff members, and mentored younger colleagues to ensure their career development and professional recognition. Since January 2024, he has transitioned to the role of “expert” (senior researcher), where he devotes his passion to scientific questions.

Prior to his current role, Antonio was involved in several academic positions in world leading universities, including an assistant professorship in Engineering Geology & Geohazars in the UK (University of Leeds), a renowned research position (Marie Curie Fellowship) at the Scott Polar Research Institute (University of Cambridge), a post-doc at the Risk Analysis Group (University of Lausanne), an adjunct assistant professorship in the department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering (Queens University) and a guest professorship at Eichstätt University. During his previous academic career, Antonio published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals dealing with Natural Hazards, Engineering Geology and Remote Sensing. He hold responsibilities on the Editorial Board of Computers & Geosciences journal (Elsevier) and have been invited to participate in multiple guest talks, editing diverse special issues, convening scientific sessions, project evaluation, etc. Antonio has secured more than 2 million CHF in diverse competitive scientific schemes through several projects successfully funded by Science Foundations at European, National and regional levels in Switzerland, Spain and the UK. Also, he’s been involved in the organization and scientific committee of multiple workshops and conferences, including more than 50 conferences proceedings. Antonio has published more than 40 articles in top-tier journals on natural hazards, geosciences, and remote sensing, and has obtained more than 2 million CHF in competitive grants. He is a member of the editorial board of Computers & Geosciences, and has been invited to participate in several conferences as a special issue editor. He is driven by his mission to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and the improvement of the quality of life in the alpine region. He has over 15 years of experience in the field of engineering geology and geohazards, with a PhD from the Universitat de Barcelona and a MSc from the Universidad de Alicante and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Background Education

• 2009 | PhD in Earth Sciences, University of Barcelona (Spain)
• 2003 | BSc + MSc in Engineering Geology, University of Alicante (Spain) – First Class Honours

Antonio gained his European Doctorate at the RISKNAT group (University of Barcelona) in 2009 with honours (summa cum laude), carrying out research stays in the UK (Durham University) and Switzerland (University of Lausanne). His MSc studies were in Geological Engineering at the University of Alicante graded with distinction (1st class honours), were he also was awarded with a prize to the 2nd-highest-ranking student at national level.

Research interests:

I am a passionate PhD-level Engineering Geologist with a keen interest in advancing strategic research and innovation across a diverse spectrum of environmental facets. My previous research has been predominantly focused on addressing critical challenges related to monitoring, modeling, and predicting gravity-driven instabilities in rock and ice cliffs. Utilizing state-of-the-art high-resolution remote sensing techniques, I have conducted extensive studies employing terrestrial, UAV, and satellite platforms to enhance our understanding of these complex phenomena. My commitment lies in contributing valuable insights to the field, ultimately striving to make meaningful advancements in gravity driven instabilities, both in rock and in icy media, in order to predict the occurrence of (catastrophic) Rock Slope Failures (RSF). Other research interests while I was an academic ranged from the use of high resolution techniques and methods for 3D experimental data collection (remote sensing techniques, Structure-from-motion, new dynamic sensors, etc.), to the development of innovative algorithms for the characterization, monitoring and modelling of progressive failures, including the influence of external forces (precipitation) on the dynamics of the phenomena. I’m fluent in different languages (English, French, Spanish and Catalan) and highly motivated in learning and developing new 4D research methods and techniques. Also, I love outdoors sports, photography, nature and most importantly, I have a lovely family  ^_^