To understand where we want to get to, we have to understand where we are starting from, and for that, I will briefly tell you my experience.

My name is Martina and I was born in Rome on 4 June 1987. I graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of Roma Tre, in Rome (Italy) with specialization in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management. My master thesis focused on the study of Animal Ecology, specifically on the study of the structure, composition and relationship with some environmental parameters of a breeding bird community of the beech wood of Allumiere (Rome, central Italy).  After that, I completed a Master in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville (Spain). During the last year of my degree, with a grant from the European LLP/Erasmus Student Placement Program, I started my research activity in the field of Ecology of Parasitism at the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC). There, I did my doctoral thesis directed by Dr. Jordi Figuerola and Dr. Josué Martínez de la Puente. I defended my PhD thesis titled “Biodiversity and Vector-Borne diseases: effects of landscape, mosquito and vertebrate communities on the transmission of West Nile virus and avian malaria parasite” obtaining the title of International Doctor in Biology.