EXPERTISE
Background
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David Rivas Tabares is an Agricultural Engineer with a strong background in hydrology, water resources management, and sustainable agriculture. He holds a Master’s degree in Hydrology and Water Resources Management (University of Alcalá/University Rey Juan Carlos) and a PhD in Agro-Environmental Technology for Sustainable Agriculture from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM).
His academic training is supported by additional specialization in time series analysis, experimental statistics, machine learning, and remote sensing. These interdisciplinary skills have enabled him to focus on applied research areas such as hydrological modeling (particularly with the SWAT model), land use and land cover change, irrigation sustainability, and satellite-based environmental monitoring.
David has extensive teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate levels in Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. He has taught subjects including Climatology, Irrigation and Drainage, Soil Science, Precision Agriculture, and Statistical Analysis. At the master’s level, he has lectured on watershed modeling and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. He has supervised numerous undergraduate and master’s theses on topics such as drought indicators, irrigation systems, and land system dynamics. Since 2021, he has also coordinated a recurring professional online course on watershed modeling using SWAT.
In the research domain, David has actively contributed to European Union H2020 projects such as TALE and BEACON, where he focused on hydrological modeling, drought assessment, and remote sensing applications. In Latin America, he has participated in collaborative projects addressing land use change and sustainability challenges in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Ecuador. His research output includes ten peer-reviewed Q1 journal articles, a Q2 paper, and a book chapter. He has participated in over 20 international scientific conferences, including regular contributions to the European Geosciences Union.
Professionally, he has worked as a hydraulic designer and project engineer in both private companies and NGOs. Since 2021, he has held a specialized position in hydrological modeling at a Spanish consultancy. He has also completed research stays at leading institutions such as IIASA (Austria) and UFZ (Germany), and reviews for several international scientific journals