Esther Sánchez Almodóvar holds a PhD in Geography (2023). She is currently a substitute lecturer in the Department of Regional Geographical Analysis and Physical Geography at the University of Alicante. She has also earned a Master’s Degree in Secondary, Upper Secondary, Vocational and Language Teaching (2021), a Master’s Degree in Planning and Management of Natural Hazards (2018) and an Undergraduate Degree in Geography and Land Planning (2017) from the University of Alicante. Esther was a predoctoral fellow (FPU) at the Interuniversity institute of Geography’s Climatology Laboratory at the University of Alicante, from January 2020 to May 2023, where she conducted her doctoral thesis, Experiencias de gestión del riesgo de inundación: acciones desde la adaptación y resiliencia al cambio climático en la provincia de Alicante (“Experiences of flood hazard management: actions for adaptation and resilience to climate change in Alicante province”). During this period she completed two research stays at Spanish universities: the University of Barcelona’s Climatology Group, under the supervision of Javier Martín Vide, PhD (January to April 2022); and the University of La Laguna’s Research Chair in Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilient Cities (January to April 2023), supervised by Pedro Dorta Antequera, PhD.

Her research focuses on various geography-related topics, such as the study of ongoing processes of climate change; climatology applied to the temporal and spatial analysis of extreme events and the most recurring synoptic patterns in their development; natural hazards and the analysis-diagnosis of flood events; the management of non-conventional water resources and the joint use of wastewater and rainwater; and the teaching of social sciences, in particular geography, with the analysis and study of student perception of climate change and natural hazards. She has also collaborated on educational innovation programmes in geography and conducted projects to raise public awareness of climate change and natural hazards. She was involved in the 2022 Research Networks for University Teaching programme as a member of network no. 5767, “Metodologías Activas en Ciencias Sociales con TAC: Competencia Digital en la Formación del Profesorado con TPACK” (“Active LKT-based methodologies in social sciences: digital skills in teacher training with TPACK”), coordinated by Isabel María Gómez Trigueros, PhD.

She also has a number of high-impact scientific publications indexed in JCR and has authored the book Inundaciones y ordenación urbana en Aspe (Alicante). La gestión de un problema histórico en un contexto de cambio climático (“Floods and urban planning in Aspe, Alicante. The management of a historical problem in a context of climate change”). Esther received a Special Award for the best academic record (UA Master’s Degree in Planning and Management of Natural Hazards, 2017-2018 academic year). Moreover, she has won several regional and local awards for her research work in the field of geography.