Biography

Pilar Catalán graduated in Biology from the University of Navarra (Spain) in 1980 and obtained her PhD in 1987 at the Aranzadi Natural Sciences Institute – Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) – Basque Country University (Spain). From 1989 to 1991 Pilar joined Leicester University (UK) for her first postdoctoral training on grass systematics, and from 1993 to 1994 Colorado and Harvard Universities (USA) for further postdoctoral collaboration on grass phylogeny and evolution. Since 1998 Pilar has been head of her research team, Bioflora, at the University of Zaragoza in Huesca (Spain). She obtained a Professorship in Botany at the University of Zaragoza in 2008 and a visiting Professorship at Tomsk State University (Russia) from 2014-2021. In addition, Pilar was a member of the Spanish National Board for Biodiversity from 2006 to 2010 and has led scientific networks with Venezuelan, Argentinian and Ecuadorian institutions since 2000. In 2010 Pilar joined the US–EU scientific consortium funded by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) for the study of the model monocot genus Brachypodium. She was awarded Corresponding member of the Botanical Society of America in 2017. Pilar is interested in grass diversity and evolution and polyploid speciation using biological, genomic and evolutionary approaches.