Javier Cervera Montesinos, graduated in physical sciences (1998) and PhD in physics (2003) at the University of Valencia. Nowadays he works as Associate Professor at the Earth Physics and Thermodynamics. He is member of the consolidated group in teaching innovation in thermodynamics, having participated in teaching innovation projects for more than 10 years. His research interests involve the ionic transport in nanopores, with applications in detectors, actuators, and neuromorphic computation, and in biolectricity models in non-excitable cells.

[Biography, english version]

Dr. Belén Franch Gras received her PhD in Physics (Cum Laude) from the University of Valencia. Between 2013 and 2019, she carried out her research activity at the University of Maryland and at NASA, where she served as an Associate Research Professor. From 2019 to 2022, she was a Distinguished Researcher at the University of Valencia, and since 2022 she has been a Tenured Associate Professor at the same institution. In parallel, she has been an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Maryland since 2019.

Her research focuses on the use of remote sensing for the analysis of the Earth’s surface, with particular emphasis on two main research lines. On the one hand, she works on the estimation of surface albedo and directional effects in the measured radiation, developing during her doctoral thesis models for daily albedo estimation with reduced uncertainty. These models are currently being adapted to medium- and high-spatial-resolution sensors to improve the characterization of the surface energy balance and to correct directional effects. On the other hand, she investigates the application of remote sensing to agricultural monitoring, with a focus on pest monitoring and early crop yield estimation, particularly for strategically important cereals, with the aim of providing objective and quantitative information to support the stability of global food markets.

Dr. Franch leads the Crop Condition Monitoring and Yield Estimation Working Group within NASA Harvest, NASA’s agriculture program, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the GEOGLAM initiative, where she coordinates international agricultural monitoring activities based on remote sensing, leading the in situ measurement working group. She has authored numerous scientific articles in SCI journals, book chapters, technical guides for NASA, and has contributed to high-impact international conferences. She serves as Principal Investigator on competitive projects funded by NASA, ESA, FAO, the Gates Foundation, and national agencies, and leads a research group that includes postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.

Her career has been recognized with several awards, including the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal (2018), the NASA Goddard Exceptional Achievement for Science Award (2019), the EVAP Young Talent Award (2019), the Forinvest Award for Professional Trajectory in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2020), and the Onda Cero Valencia Award (2022).

Her citation metrics are available on Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=OTH_6lcAAAAJ&hl=es

Degree in Physics from the University of Valencia (1995–2000). He obtained his PhD in Physics in December 2005 from the University of Valencia (UV), receiving the Extraordinary Awards for both his undergraduate and doctoral studies. In 2007, he completed a seven-month research stay at the Technische Universität München (TUM) in Munich, Germany, supported by a DAAD fellowship. From 2008 to 2014, he worked at TUM as a postdoctoral researcher and as a lecturer for Master’s and Bachelor’s students in Physics. During the period 2010–2013, he was awarded a Carl von Linde Junior Fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study at TUM. In 2019, he joined the University of Valencia, where he is currently a tenured permanent faculty member. In 2026, he was awarded a research fellowship under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) program of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) to collaborate with the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IITM.

His main research areas include the theoretical study of complex systems (nonlinear dynamics, bifurcation theory, spatiotemporal pattern formation, turbulence, and thermoacoustic instability), as well as statistical physics of nanoscale and far-from-equilibrium systems (with applications to electrochemical systems). He has participated in numerous European and national research projects, contributing to the theory of cellular automata, nonlinear oscillatory media, time-series analysis of complex systems, and far-from-equilibrium transport processes in electrochemical systems.

PhD student at UV on remote sensing applied to vegetation via imaging spectroscopy. Obtained the bachelor on Physics and the master in remote sensing at the UV faculty of Physics.

Currently member of the laboratory of earth observation (LEO) and the image processing laboratory (IPL). Working as research support technician on the ERC Flexinel project and being part of projects related to the copernicus hiperspectral imaging mission for the environment (CHIME) of the european space agency (ESA).

José Luis Gómez Amo received his PhD in Physics in 2006. He was awarded with different PhD and postdoctoral fellowship positions and granted for several research stays abroad. Currently, he is Associate Professor in the department of Physics of the Earth and Thermodynamics of the University of Valencia. He is member of the Solar Radiation Group of the University of Valencia (GRSV) since 1999. His teaching includes both, experimental and theoretical lessons, mainly on environmental physics, radiative transfer, and renewable energy. Since 2007 he has been teaching in the Remote Sensing Master and he has supervised more than 30 Master's and Degree theses. He has been supervisor of 4 PhD theses, and nowadays he is supervising 3 PhD theses more and several master and degree projects.

His research is mainly focused on atmospheric physics and solar radiation. In particular, he study the radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere due to different atmospheric components (aerosols, clouds, ozone and water vapor) combining remote sensing measurements and atmospheric modelling. He dedicates special attention to determining the impact of aerosols and clouds and its interactions on the Earth-Atmosphere radiative budget as well as their climatic implications. He also has proven expertise in radiometric instrumentation and Lidar, as well as in data processing and analysis. His scientific-technical interests also include the development of instrumentation for the measurement of atmospheric parameters as well as the study of solar energy systems and energy efficiency. He has participated in a multitude of interdisciplinary measurement campaigns worldwide; in collaboration with several research institutions (including ESA and NASA). He has been IP of four projects of the Spanish National Research Plan. Currently, he is the responsible of spectral radiation measurements and vertical profiling instrumentation for aerosol and clouds of the Burjassot AtmoSpheric Station (BASS). In addition, he is the PI regarding to these measurements in different Research Infrastructure projects and measurement Networks (ACTRIS, e-PROFILE, WaLiNeAs). He is co-author of more than 50 scientific publications in high quality indexed journals and more than 100 contributions to national and international conferences.

Full professor at the Earth Physics and Thermodynamics Department (Universitat de València, Spain). My research is conducted at the Global Change Unit of the Image Processing Laboratory. Much of my research focuses on the development of physics-based retrieval algorithms to infer biophysical parameters from Earth Observation (EO) data acquired from several sensors and platforms. For the last 10 years this research has been focused on the study of the Amazon forests using satellite, climate, and reanalysis data. I have been member of the Scientific board of some ESA’s Earth Explorer (thermal-infrared) Missions. I am member of the Science Panel for the Amazon.

Teaching activities include participation in various teaching innovation projects (2 as principal investigator), and membership in the consolidated group Experimental Demonstrations for the Classroom.

She holds a Degree in Physics from the University of Valencia (1994–1999) and obtained her PhD in Physics in July 2006 from the University of Valencia (UV). Since 2000, she has carried out teaching and research activities in the Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics at UV, except for the period from June 2001 to June 2002, during which she completed a one-year stay at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy), specifically in the Forest Fires Unit. Her continued participation in the Remote Sensing Research Unit (UIT), currently the Environmental Remote Sensing Group of the University of Valencia (UV-ERS), and in the department has included roles as a Research Fellow (2000–2004), Researcher since 2004, and Adjunct Professor in both the Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Economics over several academic years. She served as Assistant Professor (Ayudante Doctor) in the Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Valencia from 2021 to 2025 and is currently a Tenured Professor in the same department. In addition, she has been part of the founding team of the spin-off company EOLAB, SL (https://eolab.es/) since 2007.

Her main research areas have focused on the estimation and validation of biophysical products (fAPAR, LAI, and FVC) derived from satellite imagery, the development of methodologies to detect vegetation changes by combining long satellite time series with wavelet and embedding techniques, and more recently, the development of carbon flux products derived from low-spatial-resolution satellites. She has participated in operational European initiatives for land surface monitoring within the LSA SAF project (EUMETSAT), as well as in various Spanish projects such as ÁRTEMIS (CGL2008-00381/CLI), RESET CLIMATE (CGL2012-35831), ESCENARIOS (CGL2016-75239-R), and ECCE EO (PID2020-118036RB-I00), all of which are aimed at monitoring carbon fluxes in Spain.

José Moreno received the M.Sc. degree in Physics in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree in Theoretical Physics in 1992 from the University of Valencia, Spain.  In 1995-1996 he was visiting scientist at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and since 1997 a professor of Applied Physics at the University of Valencia.  He is currently Full Professor of Earth Physics with the Department of Earth Physics and Thermodynamics, Faculty of Physics, University of Valencia, Spain, and head of the Laboratory for Earth Observation (LEO) at the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL), Scientific Park, University of Valencia.  Since 1987 he has been working on different national and international projects and research networks related to remote sensing and space research, on the development of new techniques for satellite Earth Observation and data processing algorithms for multisource data integration and multisensor/multiresolution studies.  His research areas include optical/microwave synergy and optical hyperspectral data processing, for modelling and monitoring Earth surface processes, with special interest in numerical techniques for model inversion and data assimilation applied to remote sensing data. He has been particularly active in the preparatory activities and exploitation programs of several satellite missions, including ERS, ENVISAT, CHRIS/PROBA and the Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions.  He is currently Principal Investigator and chairman of the Mission Advisory Group (MAG) for the Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission, an Earth Explorer mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). He was also chairman of the SEOSAT/Ingenio MAG, and member of the Sentinel-2 Next Generation Mission Advisory Group, and the EnMAP Science Advisory Group.  He has been member of the ESA Earth Sciences Advisory Committee, the International Space Station Users Panel, and other international advisory committees for ESA, NASA, European Commission, European Science Foundation, Eumetsat.  He was coordinator of the Copernicus project SENSAGRI (Sentinels Synergy for Agriculture), and previously involved in EC projects such as Sentinels Synergy Framework (SenSyF), Analysis, Investigation and Monitoring of Water resources (AIMWATER), DEMonstration of Earth observation TEchnologies in Routine irrigation advisory services (DEMETER), among others.  He was a member of the writing team for the ESA science strategy documents in 2005, 2015 and 2025.  Prof. Moreno served as Associate Editor for several international scientific journals, and is Section Editor-in-Chief of “Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration” in Remote Sensing.  He also served as General Chair for IGARSS-2018.  In 2013 he received the Scientific Research distinction of the University of Valencia-Social Council for his cooperation to knowledge transfer and the social impart of his research.  He is also involved in European masters and international educational programs for the preparation of young scientists in the exploitation and usage of remote sensing techniques in multiple applications.

Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Valencia (1989). Full Professor of Earth Physics at the University of Valencia (UVEG), Director of the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) and the Global Change Unit (UCG), which he founded in 1996. His research focuses on thermal infrared remote sensing, land and sea surface temperature and emissivity, evapotranspiration, urban heat island effects, fire monitoring, and satellite calibration and validation. Principal Investigator of the ESA SCOUT mission SIRIUS (Space-based Infra-Red Imager for Urban Sustainability), a high-resolution thermal mission approved in 2024, and Field Chief Editor of the journal Recent Advances in Remote Sensing. Founder and President of the international symposium series Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing (RAQRS, 2002–present), whose eighth edition will be held in 2026. Member of the Mission Advisory Group of ESA’s Copernicus LSTM mission, the Scientific Advisory Group of the Franco-Indian TRISHNA mission (CNES–ISRO), and the High Consultative Council on Research, Development and Innovation of the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana. Coordinator of the Spanish National Earth Observation Network (RNOT) and President of the Spanish Association of Remote Sensing (2013–2022). Member of the review panel for ESA’s FutureEO-1 Segment 2 (2025), and previously served on ESA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee (2003–2007) and EOEP Review Committee (2005). Also coordinated the CEOS Land Product Validation Group on Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity. Expert and evaluator for the European Commission, ESA, NASA, the German DFG Clusters of Excellence, the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, the Belgian Remote Sensing Programme, The Netherlands NWO, Luxembourg FNR, UK NERC, CNES (France), FONDECYT (Chile), and the Spanish Ministry of Research, among others. Copernicus Accelerator Mentor and member of the editorial advisory boards of Remote Sensing and the International Journal of Remote Sensing; formerly Director of Frontiers in Remote Sensing and Revista Teledetección. Principal Investigator of more than 80 research projects funded by ESA, the European Union, the Spanish Government, and the Generalitat Valenciana, and supervisor of 24 PhD theses. Author of more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, with an h-index of 79 and over 31,000 citations (Google Scholar, 2025).

Research expeditions: led numerous field and airborne campaigns in France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, and Spain for the collection of in situ thermal measurements and airborne imagery in support of ESA missions such as SPECTRA, FLEX, LSTM, Sentinel-3, MISTIGRI, and TRISHNA.

Prizes and awards:

• Science, Technology and Environment Award, Carta Poblament, 2011, City of Torrent (Valencia), Spain.

• Research Award for pioneering work in environmental protection through remote sensing, Spanish Geographical Society (SGE), Spain (https://sge.org/premios-sge/premios-2019-2020/premio-investigacion-sge-2019-2020-jose-antonio-sobrino/).

• King Jaime I Award, the highest national recognition for environmental protection, 2019, Fundación Jaime I, Spain (https://fprj.es/premiado/jose-antonio-sobrino-rodriguez/).

• Distinguished Citizen (“Hijo Predilecto”) of Cartelle (Ourense), 2024.