In this talk, Laura will showcase her research on developing practical tools to improve forest management in Northwestern Spain, a region severely affected by wildfires. Using remote sensing and fire simulation models, her work explores how to map the landscape and the forest resources, identify areas of highest fire risk, and design efficient management strategies to reduce that risk. Building on these objectives, she will also present her work at the ANU, which explores how Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) products can be used to improve the planning and execution of prescribed burning.

About the Speaker

Trained as a forest engineer, Laura Alonso has developed her PhD focusing on the usage of multiple remote sensing datasets to better understand forest dynamics and fire behavior. Currently, she is undertaking a postdoctoral position aimed at enhancing the design and implementation of sustainable forest management strategies, with a particular emphasis on wildfire prevention. Although based at the University of Vigo (Spain), Laura's work has an international scope. In the past year, she conducted her research at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), and this year she is continuing her work at the Australian National University.