Designation: ICT

Jorge is a microbiologist with a background in environmental biology and specialisation in ecosystem biodiversity. He holds two Master’s degrees, in Microbiology (Universidad Austral de Chile, 2012) and Environmental Management (CEU, Spain, 2024), as well as a PhD in Life Sciences focused on biodiversity in extreme ecosystems (Université Paris-Saclay, 2016).

His professional experience has been developed across Latin America and Europe in roles spanning research, teaching, and scientific project management. Jorge has experience in the coordination of scientific and R&D&I projects with environmental, social and governance (ESG) perspectives. He has strong expertise in technical and scientific writing, proposal development, and securing competitive funding through national and international calls. He has contributed to projects addressing climate change, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and soil health.

His fieldwork experience in environments such as Iceland, the Atacama Desert and the French Camargue has provided direct insight into environmental change and ecosystem dynamics. He has participated in more than 15 national and international scientific conferences (Europe, the United States and Latin America), contributed to 7 international interdisciplinary projects, and authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications as first author in microbiology and environmental biology journals.

Jorge also has experience in data analysis and higher education teaching. His core competencies include scientific and technical writing, competitive funding applications and management, microbiological and chemical analyses, project formulation and coordination, multilingual communication, and the management of projects across scientific, technical and business-oriented environments.

Main Publications

• Osman, JR. et al., Key energy metabolisms in modern living microbialites from hypersaline Andean lagoons of the Salar de Atacama, Chile. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173469
• Ana Z. Miller, Sara Gutierrez-Patricio, Fernando Gázquez, Alba Gomez-Arias, Javier Martínez-Martínez, Pedro Nolasco-Jiménez, Jorge R. Osman et al., Stochastic seeding and environmental stressors as dual drivers of pioneer microbial colonization in newly formed basaltic lava tubes. Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-026-00874-y
• Osman et al., Microbial-Mediated Iron Sulfide Mineralization in Aragonite Spherules from the Salar de Atacama, Chile. Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01490451.2025.2516470

Andrea is a Data Management Specialist at LifeWatch ERIC’s ICT-Core, with over 8 years of experience managing high-value environmental datasets in institutional and research projects. She previously worked at the University of Granada, where she managed long-term ecological data and collaborated closely with researchers, managers, and technicians at the Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory and multiple research projects. Her main tasks involve designing and implementing Data Management Plans following European guidelines and FAIR principles, designing data services from a fitness-for-use perspective, harmonising data from different sources, storing (meta)data in open-source solutions, providing technical consultancy on data management, and collaborating with professionals from different backgrounds. She has also collaborated with international networks such as GBIF and eLTER.

José Luis Fernández Rueda is a Computer Engineer with a Master’s degree in Intelligent Systems and two decades of experience specialising in the implementation of algorithms for the processing of large-scale datasets. He began his career working in Digital Image Processing and Geographic Information Systems, before transitioning into Biomedical Research, where he has taken on a hybrid role as both a data scientist and a developer, working on low-level applications and distributed systems for the processing of large-scale omics data.

As a member of the development team at LifeWatch ERIC, he contributes to the development of the organisation’s software infrastructure.

Main publications:

Méndez-Vidal, C., Bravo-Gil, N., Pérez-Florido, J., Marcos-Luque, I., Fernández, R. M., Fernández-Rueda, J. L., … & Antiñolo, G. (2025). A genomic strategy for precision medicine in rare diseases: integrating customized algorithms into clinical practice. Journal of Translational Medicine, 23(1), 86.

Peña-Chilet, M., Roldán, G., Perez-Florido, J., Ortuno, F. M., Carmona, R., Aquino, V., … & Dopazo, J. (2021). CSVS, a crowdsourcing database of the Spanish population genetic variability. Nucleic acids research, 49(D1), D1130-D1137.

López-Sánchez, L. M., Jurado-Gámez, B., Feu-Collado, N., Valverde, A., Cañas, A., Fernández-Rueda, J. L., … & Rodríguez-Ariza, A. (2017). Exhaled breath condensate biomarkers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer using proteomics. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 313(4), L664-L676.

Salvador is a Data Management Specialist at ICT-Core, with a solid background in environmental informatics. He holds an MSc in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and has extensive experience managing and curating research datasets in alignment with FAIR principles. His work has contributed to the FAIR publication of datasets across various disciplines, with a particular focus on geospatial and biodiversity data.

Salvador has developed and maintained research software, including R packages, to streamline data access, enhance reproducibility, and enable integration with semantic web technologies. He has been involved in the design of the European Ocean Digital Twin, helping bridge environmental data systems with real-time simulations to support data-driven decision-making. In addition, he is experienced in the use and promotion of Open Linked Data, contributing to interoperable knowledge systems that connect datasets across domains and institutions.

Since joining LifeWatch ERIC in 2025, he has applied his expertise to the design and execution of data management plans across diverse scientific projects, while also leading capacity-building workshops and supporting the wider adoption of open science practices

Main publications:

Musimwa, R., Standaert, W., Stevens, M., Fernández Bejarano, S. J., Muñiz, C., Debusschere, E., Pint, S., & Everaert, G. (2025). Climate-induced habitat suitability modelling for pelagic fish in European seas. Frontiers in Marine Science, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1501751

Webb, T., Beja, J., Fernández Bejarano, S. J., Ramos, E., Sainz-Villegas, S., Soetaert, K., Stolte, W., Troupin, C., & Weigel, B. (2025). Realising the potential of interoperable data products to improve the outlook for marine biodiversity: Lessons from the European marine observation and data network. Marine Policy, 173, 106578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106578

Assis, J., Fernández Bejarano, S.J., Salazar, V.W., Schepers, L., Gouvêa, L., Fragkopoulou, E., Leclercq, L., Vanhoorne, B.,Tyberghein, L., Serrão, E.A., Verbruggen, H., De Clerck, O. (2024) Bio-ORACLE v3.0. Pushing marine data layers to the CMIP6 Earth system models of climate change research. Global Ecology and Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13813

Full Stack Engineer at LifeWatch ERIC.

He holds a degree in Telecommunication Technologies Engineering and a master’s degree in Telematics and Telecommunication Networks. He specialises in full stack software development, working on both frontend and backend technologies. Since 2020, he has been working in the private sector, focusing on building and optimising software solutions. Currently, he is developing the LifeWatch Search Engine, available at search.lifewatch.eu.

e-Infrastructure Resource Integration Coordinator

Holds a degree in Computer Engineering with extensive experience in sensor networks, IoT architectures, and research infrastructure integration. Since 2018, he has led resource integration in LifeWatch ERIC’s e-Infrastructure, though his involvement dates back to 2012, with key roles at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI, Amsterdam) and the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC), where he played a pivotal role in the process that led to LifeWatch becoming an ERIC.

He previously worked at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and at the Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (University of Granada), focusing on IoT and sensor networks for scientific infrastructures. Earlier, he gained international experience in Austria, working on distributed component communication in a flight simulator research project at Technische Universität Graz & Joanneum Research.

With expertise in scientific computing, smart systems, and data-driven infrastructures, he bridges IT solutions with environmental and scientific research.