Luis Felipe is a PhD researcher based in Newcastle in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geospatial Systems (collaborative partnership between Newcastle University and the University of Nottingham) programme. His research focuses on the impact of precipitation-related extremes on the ability of the population to access adequate volumes of clean water, as well as protection of livelihood against water related natural disasters.
Before joining the CDT, I worked as a GIS researcher and project coordinator. I worked for and in partnership with NGOs, in both corporate and governmental organisations. This included planning and delivering GIS solutions for research and engagement purposes in international projects, focused on the sustainability of natural ecosystems and citizen science.
Some of the projects that I have worked on include:
- The development of a global web-based catchment hydrological information platform (CatchX- https://ewgis.org/catchx-global/) providing access to standard water balance information at a river catchment level, without the need for complex GIS or hydrological modelling skills. This project was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) as it was a partnership between University of Leeds, University of Rhodes – South Africa, and Earthwatch Institute
- The development of The Bath Spa Observer (https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/projects/bath-spa-observer/), a digital mapping platform to facilitate student learning by using state of the art technology for data capture and use in the classroom.
Additionally, I have had the opportunity of working as part of teams delivering projects funded as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. These include projects developing citizen observatories focusing on flora and fauna, water availability and water quality, as well as measuring the impact of citizen science.
Alongside my previous work and now studies, I volunteer for MapAction, which provides emergency mapping in humanitarian disasters, as well as training and capacity building for disaster management.
Publications
- Patino Velasquez, L.F., Hussain, N., Simota, D. and Ceccaroni, L. (2019). D3.1: Report on the technical requirements. Deliverable report of project H2020 MICS (grant agreement No 824711)
- August, T., West, S. E., Robson, H., Lyon, J., Huddart, J., Velasquez, L. F. Thornhill, I., the Freshwater and Citizen Science Research Hackathon Group (2017) Citizen meets social science: Predicting volunteer involvement in a global freshwater monitoring experiment. Freshwater Science
