Water, Environment and Economics
The Water, Environment and Economics (WAVE) Group develops policy-relevant research to support water resilience under climate and socio-economic change. The group combines economic and institutional analysis with socio-hydrological and hydroeconomic modelling to address complex challenges related to water governance, uncertainty, and nonlinear change in socioecological systems.
Consolidated research lines
- Economic instruments and water governance.
- Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
- Regulation and economic analysis of the urban water cycle.
- Economic evaluation and decision support for water policy.
New research lines
- Socio-hydrology and hydroeconomic modelling.
- Uncertainty, nonlinear change, and foresight analysis.
- Robust Decision Making and water resilience.
- Actionable science and stakeholder engagement.
- Serious games and participatory processes for water governance.
- Climate adaptation and socioecological resilience.
What do we do?
In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This Agenda has 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all UN Member States, which are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere.
The research carried out by the group contributes to achieving the following Sustainable Development Goals:
Research team
Dr. Carlos Mario Gómez Gómez
Professor at the University of Alcalá. Madrid. Spain
Dr. Carlos Dionisio Pérez Blanco
Researcher
Dr. Francesco Sapino
Researcher
Dr. Nazim Uddin
Researcher
Dr. David Rivas Tabares
Researcher
Dr. Jesús Garrido Rubio
Researcher
Dr. Mario Ballesteros Olza
Researcher
Noureddine Bouzidi
Predoctoral researcher
Héctor González López
Predoctoral researcher
Abir Neji
Predoctoral researcher
Isabella de Baptistis
Predoctoral researcher
Osama Hassan
Predoctoral researcher
Mariem Chammem
Predoctoral researcher
Haniyeh Salmani
Advanced research support technician
Giammauro Soriano
Advanced research support technician
Danae Zachari
Advanced research support technician
Redouane Meras
Predoctoral researcher
Marta Rodríguez Gómez
Project manager
Dr. Carlos Mario Gómez Gómez
Professor at the University of Alcalá. Madrid. Spain
He is the Chair of the Department of Economics of the University of Alcalá. BA in Political Science (Colombia) and Economics (Spain). MSc in Agricultural Development (University of London) and PhD in Economics (UAH). He has been Research Associate (1994) and Visiting Scholar (2000) at University of California Berkeley and was appointed as the Santander Fellow at the University of Oxford for Michaelmas and Trinity in 2013 and 2014.
- mario.gomez@uah.es
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Dr. Carlos Dionisio Pérez Blanco
Researcher
He is a R4 Researcher at IMDEA Water, where he is Coordinator and Principal Investigator of the WaterTheft (ERC CoG), TRANSCEND (Horizon Europe), TALANOA-WATER (H2020) and NATURA (Spanish Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia) projects, and Principal Investigator in the projects MARCLAIMED and IRENE (Spanish R&D Plan, EUR 300 000) projects.
- dionisio.perez@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Dr. Francesco Sapino
Researcher
Francesco earned a bachelor’s degree in Energetic Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin, followed by a master’s degree in environmental economics (with honors) at the University of Turin.
- francesco.sapino@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Dr. Nazim Uddin
Researcher
He received his PhD in 2015 from the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB)-China in environmental science and engineering.
- nazim.uddin@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Dr. David Rivas Tabares
Researcher
Postdoctoral researcher at IMDEA Water in the WaterTheft project (ERC CoG). His career has focused on analyzing the complex relationships of agricultural systems in the territory. After completing his thesis, he carried out a three-year postdoctoral stay in Ecuador with the competitive Margarita Salas 2021 fellowship.
- david.rivas@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Dr. Jesús Garrido Rubio
Researcher
Jesús Garrido Rubio is an Agricultural Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and currently works at the IMDEA Water Institute. His research work has grown hand in hand with Spanish, European or Latin America funded projects aimed at remote sensing-based irrigation water accounting at different spatial and temporal management scales through a remote sensing-based soil water balance.
- jesus.garrido@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Dr. Mario Ballesteros Olza
Researcher
Mario Ballesteros Olza holds a degree in Environmental Sciences (2010) from the University of Alcalá, a Master’s in Sustainable Water Management (2012) from the University of Zaragoza, and a PhD in Economics and Business (2022) from the UNED.
- mario.ballesteros@imdea.org
- IMDEA Agua. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Noureddine Bouzidi
Predoctoral researcher
Noureddine is a Research assistant and PhD candidate in Economics. With a master’s degree in water management and governance from CIHEAM Zaragoza, he works on the MARCLAIMED project.
- noureddine.bouzidi@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Héctor González López
Predoctoral researcher
Civil Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, with a Master’s in Hydrology and Water Resources Management from UAH in collaboration with URJC, where he analyzed runoff in road networks using hydrological models.
- hector.gonzalez@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Abir Neji
Predoctoral researcher
Abir Neji is a hydraulic and planning engineer specialized in water and waste management and treatment from the Higher School of Engineers of Medjez El Bab (Tunisia).
- abir.neji@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Isabella de Baptistis
Predoctoral researcher
Isabella obtained a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Bologna and a master’s degree in International Politics and Government from LUMSA University in Rome.
- isabella.debaptistis@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Osama Hassan
Predoctoral researcher
Osama Hassan is a passionate researcher transforming the future of water management under climate change. Specializing in socio-hydrological systems and hydro-economic modeling, he leverages his expertise in Socio-hydrology to turn complex data into actionable insights, fostering a resilient future.
- osama.hassan@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Mariem Chammem
Predoctoral researcher
Engineer and researcher specialized in rural economics and agricultural project management.
- mariem.chammem@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Haniyeh Salmani
Advanced research support technician
Haniyeh Salmani is a dedicated Ph.D. researcher specializing in hydrology, water resource management, and economic modeling. She holds a bachelor’s in project management engineering and a master’s in civil engineering with a focus on water resources management.
- haniyeh.salmani@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Giammauro Soriano
Advanced research support technician
He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree of Language, Culture and Society of Asia and Mediterranean Africa (2019) from the Ca’Foscari University of Venice. He complemented his academic background with a Master’s degree in International Relations (2022) and a Master of Science in Science and Management of Climate Change (2023)
- giammauro.soriano@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Danae Zachari
Advanced research support technician
Danae holds a BA in Sociology and an MA in Human Geography from the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada. She is a member of the Economic and Institutional Analysis Group at IMDEA Water, where she contributes to research on water security, climate resilience, and hydrological disaster risk reduction.
- danae.zachari@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Redouane Meras
Predoctoral researcher
- redouane.meras@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
Marta Rodríguez Gómez
Project manager
Marta holds a BSc in Environmental Sciences (Autonomous University of Madrid, UAM) with a final dissertation on Environmental Accounting and an Emergy model (Ecological Economics) applied to Spain. MSc in Hydrology and Water Resources Management (University of Alcalá, UAH, 2011).
- marta.rodriguez@imdea.org
- IMDEA Water. Avenida Punto Com, 2. Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares. 28805 MADRID
