Director of ICATALIST, member of the European Scientific Council on Climate Change, lead author of IPCC Working Group II on Adaptation, Vulnerability and Impacts. She collaborates as an expert in the Spanish Citizens’ Climate Assembly.
At ICATALIST her role focuses on the development of strategic projects related to climate change adaptation and sustainability for different stakeholders, social innovation and innovation-based public policy. She leads an interdisciplinary team to implement projects that aim to have a positive impact, based on a range of products and services around shared values.
Founder and Director of ICATALIST. Elena completed her PhD at King’s College, London. She holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge University and a Master’s degree in Investigative Journalism, Data Management and Visualisation from the Juan Carlos I University with the newspaper “El Mundo”.
She was Associate Professor at IE Business School and Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics as Alcoa Research Fellow.
Professionally, Elena has worked with several organisations, including UNESCO, FAO, UNDP, the EU Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, universities and basin agencies, as well as with the private and third sectors.
She has published on a variety of topics mainly related to water security, social innovation, collaborative decision making, water governance, climate change adaptation, policy evaluation, knowledge management and transfer.
Its current main focus is on climate change adaptation, collective action and the role of green infrastructure, as well as strategic (ground) water management.
" We only reflect the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are found in the inner world. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change."
- M. Gandhi
– CEO and founder of Icatalist
– President of the BRIGAID Connect Association
– Lead author IPCC
– Member of the European Climate Change Advisory Council
– Expert at the Citizens’ Climate Assembly
As a researcher and environmental consultant at ICATALIST, her role focuses on conducting remote sensing and photo interpretation studies related to agriculture and its water consumption, analysing sustainability indicators for projects, products and services, managing and presenting projects, planning and facilitating participatory processes, networking, and conducting other environmental studies and reports related to the circular economy, air quality, climate change mitigation and adaptation, nature-based solutions, and carbon footprint estimates. She is part of an interdisciplinary team involved in various national and international projects.
She collaborates as a volunteer in the organisation of the Climathon event in Seville since 2022, and, through ICATALIST as a participating partner, participates in the meetings of the Spanish Water Technology Platform (PTEA).
Sara finished her degree in Environmental Technologies Engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Montes, Forestal y Medio Natural of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. At the same university he also completed a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales. Continuing his training, he has taken several courses, including a course on Radioactive Waste Management (ENRESA-UPM) and a course on Wastewater Treatment Plants: Operation and Exploitation (FACSA-UJI Chair). In addition, she has attended the Mission CitiES 2030 course of the Menéndez Pelayo University in 2022, online workshops of the Danish Embassy, EMASESA seminars, PTEA and Water Academies Workshop.
Prior to joining the company, she worked as a sustainability assistant trainee at the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), where she carried out risk analysis, scientific documentation analysis, comparative studies and field work.
She developed his Final Degree Project at the IGME, a project for the rehabilitation of an abandoned mining dam in Portmán (Murcia) using technosols, for which he was awarded an honours degree, and which is published in the UPM repository;
If I knew that the world was ending tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today.
- Martin Luther King
– Researcher and environmental consultant for Icatalist
• Young Water Professional Spanish Chapter
