External Scientific Monitoring Commission

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Discover the members of TERRA’s External Scientific Monitoring Commission here

The External Scientific Monitoring Commission of the TERRA Associate Laboratory is an advisory body that brings together national and international experts and ensures scientific rigor and strategic relevance, contributing its experience and vision to align TERRA’s activities with national and global challenges.

João Guerreiro

University of Algarve

Professor João Guerreiro is a leading figure in Portuguese higher education, with a career dedicated to regional economics, rural and environmental planning, and university governance. He served as Rector of the University of Algarve (2006–2013), where he played a decisive role in shaping institutional strategy and promoting innovation. As Pro-Rector, he also fostered technology transfer and was among the founders of CRIA – the Regional Innovation Centre of the Algarve.

Beyond academia, he has held positions of high national and regional responsibility, including President of the Algarve Regional Coordination Commission, the Algarve Operational Programme, and the National Commission for Access to Higher Education. He also represented Portugal in the Inter-Mediterranean Commission and, in 2017, chaired the Independent Technical Commission appointed by the Portuguese Parliament to analyse the wildfires in Central Portugal.

His contribution has been recognised with the Medal of Scientific Merit (Science 2018) and the title of Emeritus Professor of the University of Algarve in 2021. Since 2018, he has been President of the Portuguese Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), leading national strategies for quality assurance in higher education.

Diane Srivastava

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Professor Diane Srivastava is an internationally recognised ecologist whose research focuses on the ecology of species diversity and its links to ecosystem function. Her work explores how regional species pools, habitat structure, and human activities shape local and global biodiversity, with particular attention to the relationship between diversity and ecosystem processes. She has carried out extensive fieldwork across Central and South America, Africa, England, and both arctic and temperate regions of Canada.

She earned her BSc in Biology at Dalhousie University, an MSc at the University of Toronto, and a PhD at Imperial College London in 1997, with a thesis on aquatic insects in tree hollows. After postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia (UBC), she developed a long-term research programme on bromeliad ecosystems in the Neotropics.

Professor Srivastava has received numerous honours for her scientific contributions. She was awarded the UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowship in 2006, and in 2010 received the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. From 2017 to 2026, she has been serving as Director of the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution. In 2021, she was appointed Distinguished University Scholar at UBC, and in 2023 she was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has published over 100 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, advancing global understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics.

Erle C. Ellis

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Professor Erle C. Ellis is an internationally recognised expert in the ecology of human-altered landscapes and their long-term transformation at local to global scales. His research addresses the Anthropocene and the sustainable stewardship of the biosphere, focusing on concepts such as anthromes and anthroecology. He has pioneered global synthesis tools for integrating local ecological knowledge (GLOBE), developed low-cost methods for ecological monitoring (Ecosynth, Anthropogenic Ecotope Mapping), and conducted long-term studies on China’s village landscapes.

At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), he is Professor in the Department of Geography & Environmental Systems and Director of the Anthroecology Lab, where he teaches environmental science and landscape ecology. He has also taught ecology at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Professor Ellis has played leading roles in international science-policy processes. He was a chapter author of the former US National Nature Assessment and is currently a lead author of the Transformative Change Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He is a Fellow of the Global Land Programme, a Senior Fellow of the Breakthrough Institute, and served as a member of the Anthropocene Working Group (2009–2023).

His contributions to research and policy have been widely recognised. He is a Highly Cited Researcher with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. He was named UMBC Presidential Research Professor (2021–2024) and Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School (2023–2024). His career reflects a consistent dedication to advancing scientific understanding of human–environment systems and informing pathways for sustainable global change.

Lidija Globevnik

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering

Lidija Globevnik works in the fields of water management, river hydromorphology, freshwater ecology, and multi-stressor assessment. Her research focuses on how land use, hydrological alteration, chemical pollution, and climate variability interact to shape the ecological status of rivers and lakes across Europe. Her recent work includes pan-European analyses of agricultural pressures on river ecology, the role of chemical pollution in limiting ecological recovery, and the development of broad typologies for rivers and lakes that enable consistent large-scale environmental assessments across the EU. She has developed European-scale databases, hydrologic stress metrics, and decision-support tools for river basin management.

Globevnik conducted research at the University of Ljubljana and the Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia, developing hydrological models, studying sediment dynamics, and advancing methods to evaluate river ecological integrity. Building on this strong scientific foundation, she now serves as Director General of the Water Directorate at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia, where she leads national water policy and EU strategies for climate adaptation and flood risk reduction. Her work bridges cutting-edge research with evidence-based water governance and sustainable management practices.

Throughout her career, Globevnik has contributed extensively to scientific knowledge, policy development, and the training of researchers. Her expertise has influenced river basin management strategies across Europe, supporting the implementation of EU directives and national water management plans. She continues to promote interdisciplinary approaches to freshwater ecology, integrating science, policy, and practical solutions for sustainable water resources management.

Pietro (Pete) Iannetta

James Hutton Institute (United Kingdom)

Pietro (Pete) Iannetta is a botanist and ecologist and Programme Leader of Ecological Food Systems at the James Hutton Institute in the United Kingdom. His research focuses on whole-system approaches to promoting more sustainable and resilient food and feed systems, with particular emphasis on legume-based and underutilised crop value chains. His work integrates plant growth-promoting microbial and soil microbiome genomics with agri-food system modelling, life-cycle assessment, and the development of post-farmgate innovations that enhance resource efficiency, ecosystem functions, and the circular economy.

Iannetta coordinates and participates in numerous large-scale projects funded by the European Union and the United Kingdom, including LegumES, which explores the ecosystem services of legume-based systems; RADIANT, focused on dynamic value chains for underutilised crops; and econutri, centred on innovative technologies for ecologically sustainable nutrient management. He is also involved in several UK-based projects such as NUELeg, NAPIC, and NCS, aimed at improving nitrogen use productivity and efficiency. His research actively engages with industry, SMEs, farmers, policymakers, and other value chain actors, ensuring tangible environmental and societal impact.

In addition to his role at the James Hutton Institute, Iannetta is an Auxiliary Professor at the Portuguese Catholic University’s Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry and an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Dundee. He teaches and supervises undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in nutrition sciences, food engineering and sustainable production systems. He has authored numerous international publications on the role of legumes in transforming agri-food systems and contributes to public debate on protein plans, dietary transitions, and food system resilience.

Rafaela Schinegger

Nature Conservation Planning, BOKU University (Vienna)

Rafaela Schinegger is an Associate Professor of Nature Conservation Planning at BOKU University in Vienna. Her research focuses on integrative approaches to ecosystem conservation and restoration, bridging freshwater and terrestrial habitats and addressing the ecological requirements under conditions of human use and conflict. She investigates the impacts of multiple stressors on biodiversity, develops strategies to strengthen ecological connectivity, and advances cross-sectoral planning frameworks, with an emphasis on evidence-based conservation and the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.

Her work also contributes to the scientific basis for strategic conservation planning, supporting the implementation of European environmental law and policy, including the Water Framework Directive, Habitats Directive, Renewable Energy Directive, and other relevant EU instruments. She studies interactions and conflicts among these frameworks and actively engages in the science–policy interface, translating complex ecological knowledge into decision support tools and practical recommendations for stakeholders, policymakers, and the wider public.

In addition to her research, Schinegger is strongly committed to teaching and mentoring students in conservation planning, ecology, and biodiversity management. She designs innovative, transdisciplinary teaching formats that integrate research, practice, and stakeholder engagement. She publishes widely in peer-reviewed journals and is an active science communicator, contributing to media, public dialogues, and cross-sectoral initiatives to ensure that conservation and restoration are understood as key societal tasks.

Santiago Saura

Technical University of Madrid (UPM), School of Forestry and Environmental Engineering

Professor Santiago Saura is a leading Spanish researcher in the fields of landscape ecology, forest planning, biodiversity conservation, and sustainability. His work focuses on developing quantitative methods in spatial ecology and landscape connectivity, applying them to endangered species conservation and forest landscape management. He has also advanced the implementation of these methods in freely available software tools, supporting science-based decision-making for conservation and land-use planning.

At the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), he is Professor at the School of Forestry and Environmental Engineering, where he is also a member of the Research Centre on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development (CBDS) and served as Vice-Dean for Research from 2023 to 2025. He has published around 100 peer-reviewed articles, with over 14,000 citations and an H-index of 55 (Google Scholar) and has coordinated numerous national and international research projects.

Beyond academia, Professor Saura has contributed significantly to sustainability policy and governance. From 2021 to 2025, he served as Second Vice-President of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS), the national chapter of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). From 2019 to 2023, he was Councillor for International Affairs and Cooperation at Madrid City Council, where he led Madrid’s adhesion to the European climate innovation agency and community EIT Climate-KIC, and was also Spokesperson for Environment for the Ciudadanos party. Between 2016 and 2019, he worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, contributing to EU-level science–policy interfaces.

External Scientific Monitoring Commission

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