SAUL
BLANCO LANZA

At the academic level, I have completed postgraduate studies at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and at the National University of Distance Education. I have obtained 6 study and research grants and have spent 2 years of pre- and post-doctoral stays at the University of Valencia and at the Centre de Recherche Public Gabriel Lippmann (Luxembourg). In the field of research, I have specialised in taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of continental diatoms, and I am currently the Director of the University Service "Laboratorio de Diatomologia" of the University of León, which has obtained more than 2,000,000 euros in projects with companies and administrations since 2000, and has received 9 international researchers. He has participated as a collaborating researcher in 3 international, 7 national (1 as PI) and 8 regional scientific projects. It has collaborated in fifty agreements and contracts (art. 83). He is an official lecturer at the University of León as a lecturer in charge of several subjects and has given training courses for different administrations (CHD, MMA) and guest lectures and teaching seminars at the Universities of Málaga, Murcia, Évora, Javeriana (Bogota), etc. He has supervised 2 doctoral theses, with 4 more in progress, and numerous degree theses, TFG and TFM. He is a full member of the Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, and is also editor of its journal. He is accredited as a TU by ANECA. At the same time, he has developed a longstanding work of scientific dissemination in collaboration with various public and private institutions. He has been responsible for the first Centre for the Dissemination and Promotion of Science in León (FECyT Project 29502/224-4G), as well as the promoter of the first Science Shop in Spain. He has also participated as a lecturer in numerous seminars aimed at teacher training (e.g., Centre for Teacher Training and Educational Innovation, Training of leisure time monitors, ESTALMAT project, etc.) and is the sole author of 4 books and several articles on popular science. In terms of bibliometric indicators, he has published 132 WoS articles, 29 in Q1. He ranks 8th out of >2800 researchers affiliated to the University of León in terms of scientific production (Scopus), No. 1 within the Faculty of Biology among active researchers. In 2017, the applicant was the author with the highest research productivity of this University in the branch of Sciences, with an index of 100 points out of a possible 100 (this index takes into account not only publications, but also the impact of the publications and the participation of the research staff in competitive projects). In successive years, the candidate has remained among the 10 most productive researchers at the University on this scale. He is the author or co-author of 6 books published by international academic publishers, plus 9 book chapters. He is the author of the first illustrated guide to diatoms in Spain (bit.ly/2L4I7wN, bit.ly/2jYuMJU) for MAGRAMA, and of the first diatom flora of the Mediterranean (bit.ly/2Goj6sO). He has presented about a hundred papers in several international scientific conferences and congresses, 2 as invited speaker. He is associate editor of the ISI journals "Fottea", "Biodiversity Data Journal" and "Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution", as well as in "International Journal on Algae" and "Phycology". I have reviewed 74 manuscripts for 39 international journals.