A new management team takes the helm at CEIGRAM to continue driving forward the sustainability of agri-food systems
The Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks (CEIGRAM) has been working alongside the agricultural sector for 19 years to manage production, market and environmental risks. Since a founding agreement was signed in 2007 with the State Agricultural Insurance Organisation (ENESA), AGROMUTUA-MAVDA (later replaced by Agroseguro as a partner) and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), the joint research centre has combined dissemination, knowledge transfer and training in the fields in which it conducts its research.
From May 2026, Ana María Tarquis Alfonso, who has until now been Deputy Director, will take over as Director of CEIGRAM. Ana succeeds Isabel Bardají Azcárate, who has led the Centre since 2019.
Isabel Bardají: seven years of leadership at CEIGRAM
Isabel Bardají holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the UPM (1985) and is a professor of Agricultural Economics and Policy at the School of Agricultural, Food and Biosystems Engineering. She is one of the Centre’s founding researchers, having served as deputy director of CEIGRAM on two occasions, between 2009 and 2012 and between 2015 and 2016; as such, she has known the Centre since its inception and has helped to shape it from the very beginning. During her seven years as director, Isabel has represented CEIGRAM with great dedication, helping to advance the centre’s objectives, such as knowledge transfer and the promotion of interdisciplinarity. Furthermore, during this period, collaboration both within and outside the centre has been strengthened, with participation in highly significant national and international scientific networks.
Over the past seven years, CEIGRAM has continued to grow and has established itself as a leading research centre. By organising and participating in national and international conferences on topics in which our researchers are experts – such as nitrogen management, the agri-food economy and public policy geared towards sustainability – the Centre has broadened its scope and strengthened its national and international partnerships.
Furthermore, CEIGRAM has become an increasingly attractive multidisciplinary hub for researchers from all over the world. Through research visits and agreements with universities in other countries, the Centre’s internationalisation has also increased during this period.
In her closing remarks as Director, Isabel expressed her gratitude to all the researchers at CEIGRAM, to the Centre’s former Directors, and to ENESA and Agroseguro. She also highlighted the importance of having a research and management team comprising a large number of women, including the management team itself, as a prerequisite for integrating the gender perspective into the Centre’s research and projects.
Ana Tarquis: renewed energy as she takes the lead
For her part, the new Director, Ana Tarquis, holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and is a professor of Applied Mathematics at the School of Agricultural, Food and Biosystems Engineering (ETSI) at the UPM. She has been associated with CEIGRAM since its inception and has served on the management team, holding the post of Secretary from 2011 to 2017 and Deputy Director from 2018 to 2026. Ana has 30 years’ experience in research, applying mathematical tools to agriculture and the environment to provide a fresh perspective on the issues affecting these fields. She is a staunch advocate of interdisciplinarity and has a deep understanding of the ecosystem that makes up CEIGRAM; we are therefore confident that she will continue to develop the Centre in the same vein as its previous directors.
In a farewell speech for Isabel, Ana highlighted her commitment to CEIGRAM, the work and projects they have carried out together over the years, and how their different disciplines have complemented one another in pursuit of a common goal: finding solutions for the sustainability of agri-food systems.
Deputy Directorate, Secretariat and Administration
The change in leadership is accompanied by a partial reshuffle of the management team. Irene Blanco Gutiérrez takes up the post of Deputy Director, whilst Esther Hernández-Montes will continue as the Secretary, as will Esperanza Luque, who will remain in the role of Administrator.
Irene Blanco is a full professor and agricultural engineer whose background combines agricultural economics, public policy and rural development management, having completed her studies at CIHEAM in France and at the University of Montpellier. She obtained her PhD in Agricultural Economics and Natural Resources from the UPM in 2010, having spent time at the University of California, Davis. Her research links sustainability, climate change and the circular bioeconomy, with a particular focus on the water-agriculture nexus. She has led or participated in more than twenty competitive research projects and has worked as a consultant for the FAO and ECLAC.
Esther Hernández-Montes is a tenured lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Production at ETSIAAB. She holds a PhD from the University of the Balearic Islands, where she studied carbon and water balances in vine cultivation, and undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Bologna, Washington State University and the University of the Balearic Islands. Her work centres on crop ecophysiology and water relations, with a focus on abiotic stress and extreme heat events as stressors on agricultural systems in the context of climate change.
Finally, Esperanza Luque, an Agricultural Engineer from the UPM, has been responsible for managing the research projects and training activities carried out by CEIGRAM since the Centre’s inception, and has served as its Administrator since 2012. She also has previous experience in consultancy work in the fields of water and the environment, which has contributed positively to her management role at CEIGRAM. She has managed over 350 projects under various Research Framework Programmes and Horizon Europe, National Plans and in collaboration with companies. As head of the management team, she is responsible for providing direct support to researchers.
Management and communication work at the centre is carried out by a team of four people with multidisciplinary backgrounds, who provide support in managing the administrative and communication matters relating to research staff and their research projects, covering both promotional and management aspects. Thanks to this team’s work, research staff are able to focus their efforts on the scientific development of their projects
We at CEIGRAM would like to thank Isabel Bardají Azcárate for her dedication, commitment and leadership over the years. Her time at the helm of the centre has laid a solid foundation: more collaborations, greater international visibility and a team that continues to grow. We welcome Ana María Tarquis Alfonso as the new director, with the confidence that comes from knowing the centre well, and Irene Blanco Gutiérrez, Esther Hernández-Montes and Esperanza Luque, who complete the management team with which CEIGRAM is embarking on this new phase.
