16 July 2026Congratulations to Catalina, who has been awarded the University of Montpellier Doctoral College Award (CDUM). This prize recognizes three PhD graduates from the 2025 graduating class whose research stands out for its interdisciplinary nature.
How can tropical forests—essential for mitigating climate change and maintaining ecosystem stability—be conserved while also supporting economic development in fragile contexts? This is the central question addressed in Catalina’s PhD research. Her work explores ways to reconcile these two objectives in countries facing multiple challenges, including insecure land tenure, weak law enforcement, armed conflicts, poverty, limited technological capacity, and insufficient financial resources. The research adopts a multi-scale approach, combining local case studies in the Amazon, national-level analysis in the Congo Basin, and an intertropical perspective based on five regional studies.
Catalina completed her PhD at the CEE-M under the supervision of Sébastien Roussel and Emmanuelle Lavaine, , both members of the CEE-M. She successfully defended her dissertation in November 2025.
The award was granted following an evaluation by the doctoral schools and an oral presentation before an interdisciplinary selection committee.
The award ceremony took place on 6 July 2026, following the meeting of the Research Commission of the University of Montpellier, in the presence of the University’s President, the Vice-President for Research, and members of the selection committee.
