We are all very happy to announce the arrival of our new Senior Research Assistant, Victoria Dominguez Almela, based at the University of Southampton.
Vicky is an ecologist with research interests covering the impacts of invasive species on biodiversity and people. She has been working since 2017 on better understanding biological invasions as part of her PhD at Bournemouth University using individual-based models (IBMs), geographical information systems (GIS) and stable isotopes.
“I have a broad interest in aquatic ecology, with a specific interest on novel applications of GIS and models to predicting ecological outcomes. I have specifically worked on the field of biological invasions, which are one of the greatest threats to our biodiversity and can lead to a variety of negative consequences in our terrestrial, marine and freshwater systems. Most of my work has been focus on protecting the biodiversity, but SARTRAC has challenged me to think about the effects that those invasive species can make into the communities of people, especially those with less resource availability to effectively deal with the problem. This is an exciting different perspective of the problem and I will be aiming to assess the biological, political, social and economic aspects of sargassum, to potentially inform future national and regional governance.”