Bernat Dorado is an iGEON alumnus who focused on ecological restoration for his Master's Thesis. He studied the MSc program in a part-time modality while balancing it with a full-time job.
He was able to present his research project at the SERE 2022 conference in Alicante, Spain. Now, he aims to continue developing his career by monitoring restoration projects.
1. What was your experience studying the Master's program at NRS?
The experience was incredibly positive. I had never attempted an online program before and being able to do so while combining it with work, could only be done while having a positive experience.
I have always liked ecology, earth observation and cartography, but I studied economics as an undergrad. Economics is a versatile field, which could even be applied to Natural Resources. When I saw the courses, in the MSc program, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to study… I thought to myself if this is what I like, why not give it a try?
2. What was your favourite course and why?
My favourite course was Remote Sensing, taught during the first year. It took us from the initial theoretical courses, such as Natural Resource Management, to a more technical area.
It was so challenging that it opened a whole new spectrum of knowledge for me. It was a beautiful and satisfactory experience to successfully finish it, coming from someone with a different background. After this course, you feel like you are on a whole new level.
3. What topic did you choose for your thesis and why?
As the program was advancing, I found myself interested in ecosystem services and their quantification, as it is also related to economic management, which was my background. When preparing the Master Thesis I faced problems to obtain the field data I needed for this topic, so I re-oriented my Thesis towards remote sensing methodologies for the monitoring of restoration areas.
I had clear from the beginning that I wanted to work on an area that was close to me, so I could physically travel to the ground that I was going to inspect. After investigating a bit, I noticed that CREAF (Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Center) had elaborated projects similar to those that I was interested in for my Thesis, and that was my tipping point to dive fully into restoration monitoring.
5. What did you learn during your thesis?
I learned to develop a methodology, to formulate a way to reach a conclusion from your own customized method that you build by picking up on others' previous work and trying to move forward on what had previously been researched. I enjoyed feeling that I was part of an endless chain of progress by contributing with my bit. Every step of the Thesis, from figuring out how to face the project to learn the way to work remotely with my supervisor was a great learning process that will influence my career.
6. How do you plan to continue developing your career? Is your plan aligned with the same topic as your thesis?
I would love to continue focusing on restoration monitoring and contributing to improving monitoring methods using remote sensing tools. Currently, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the New Restoration Law are being developed. These ambitious projects need to be coordinated considering detection systems and studies similar to my Thesis research project, which was presented at SERE 2022.
I would like to become a bridge between academia, policymakers and practitioners, which are the organizations that conduct these restorations.
7. Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview? Any special words for a teacher or classmates?
I would like to give my support to those who are working parallelly to their studies. You have to realize that this extreme effort has a start date, but also a finish line. If you complete an MSc while working, the reward is unique, and the satisfaction is double. Be resilient!
I would also like to thank all my teachers but especially to Wieteke Willemen who I feel very lucky to have had as my supervisor. Not only for her knowledge and experience but also for handing down her rigor and working ethics.