Women scientists aboard the Nansen: Meet Alba Jurado-Ruzafa
- Alba Jurado-Ruzafa from Spain works at the Canary Oceanographic Center in the Canary Islands. She joined the new Nansen’s maiden voyage off the coast of Northwest Africa.
The #EAFNansen programme has an important gender component as part of the long-standing Norway-FAO collaboration.
In practice, this means that we are lucky enough to have many talented women scientists and researchers aboard each survey voyage of the Nansen.
On this voyage, we’ve already brought you a profile of Moroccan Hinde Abdelouhahab.
Today, we’re chatting with a fellow member of the ‘Plankton Team’, alongside Hinde: Alba Jurado-Ruzafa. Alba is taking time out of her busy schedule on board to answer some of our questions:
Where are you from and what is your current position?
My name is Alba Jurado-Ruzafa and I am from Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona). I work in the CECAF section in the Canary Oceanographic Center, located in Tenerife, the Canary Islands. It belongs to the Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Spain.
- Alba at work in the labs.
- After the trawls, Alba and her team sort and classify the fish before getting underway with work in the fish lab.
I am involved in the EU-project Data Collection Framework, monitoring industrial and artisanal Spanish fisheries (and the related marine species) in the area.
Where did you complete your studies, and what are your areas of expertise?
I moved to Tenerife in 2000 to finish my degree in Marine Biology in the Universidad de La Laguna.
We had a very special and enthusiastic professor who made me fall in love with Fishery Biology. As a student, before finishing my degree, I collaborated with the Canary Oceanographic Center, and soon after that, the first contract arrived.
I usually work on fisheries-related topics (mostly concerning small pelagic resources), but on this cruise I am mainly working with - and am learning a lot from - the “plankton team”.
How did you first decide to study science? Did you have important teachers or mentors who encouraged you in your choice?
Actually, I don’t know exactly why, but I always knew that I wanted to study Marine Biology.
As I’ve said, Professor Ignacio Lozano Soldevilla was the one who first introduced me to Fishery Biology. But I also had the luck to meet another great scientist in the Canary Oceanographic Center. Her name is M. Teresa García Santamaría, and we share not only project tasks (that still continue), but also the supervisor-student relationship during my PhD path, which I finished in 2015. I really appreciate her work style and her advice.
What do you find most difficult or challenging about this type of experience?
In the first surveys, the most difficult aspect is becoming familiarized with the life on board and its peculiarities. Some people think that it is like a cruise, but we work too hard with 6-hour on-off shifts, and you must fight constant fatigue and always be ready to work.
What advice would you offer to a young girl who dreams of studying marine biology, fisheries, or other areas of ocean research?
To the young girls - and young people, in general - who are entering into research careers, I would say that it is not an easy path. Work hard, be persistent, a bit of good luck and, if you are really passionate, being involved in projects such as the EAF-Nansen will be a great reward.
Thank you – Gracias, Alba! Thanks for this interview, and for all your input on your work from on board. We wish you a good return to the Canary Islands, and hope to see you again soon aboard the Nansen!
- Speaking about her experience on the Nansen, Alba says, “It’s a really enriching experience, not only in a professional sense. We are working very hard on board, but having lots of fun at the same time.”
