Interview with Dr. Pamela Durán-Díaz—Winner of the Land 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award

We are pleased to announce Dr. Pamela Durán-Díaz as one of the winners of the Land 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award.

The following is a short interview with Dr. Pamela Durán-Díaz:

1. Could you give us a brief introduction of yourself and the main research content of your current work?

I am Pamela Duran-Diaz, a Mexican citizen of the world and Senior Planning and Governance Specialist at IHS of Erasmus University Rotterdam. I studied architecture in Mexico, and my curiosity brought me to Barcelona, where I pursued an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in urban planning; my thesis was about the role of water bodies in giving structure to all of the systems that converge in any given territory. My research work was the perfect excuse to travel around the world to see how water bodies condition urban dynamics, and it also opened the door to other opportunities: I became a postdoctoral fellow at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya to study the sustainable management of extreme cultural landscapes in China, Mali, and Mexico. I was organizing and facilitating workshops in collaboration with Tsinghua University, China University of Geosciences, and ESIAU in Bamako. What started as an adventure turned into 11 years of living in Spain.

In 2016, I joined the Technical University of Munich in Germany, where I became the coordinator of the Doctoral and Master's programs on Land Management and Geospatial Science (formerly Land Management and Land Tenure). I had to change the scale at which I looked at land, from the urban artefact to the whole territory, and from urban to peri-urban and rural areas. I got my hands deep into land governance on my second postdoc. It was a large capacity building project to strengthen land governance in Africa, which was a great opportunity to learn from the over 500 land professionals and stakeholders from about 30 different African countries that participated in that project! I was working hand in hand with consultants and stakeholders from the World Bank, UN Habitat, NELGA, Kadaster, ALPC, FAO, and more.

I have been involved in several advisory and capacity building projects around the world. That was how I got involved in impactful projects about frugivorous fish in the Amazonian Rainforest, Indigenous land rights in Latin America, women-led farmstays in the Himalayas, food sovereignty in Colombia, urban gardening in Germany and Mexico, water management in Nepal, environmental risk assessment in Mexico, the policy review of the UNESCO Convention, the potential of AI for the energy transition in Ghana, Zambia, DRC, and Argentina, and many more! These experiences inspired me to pursue my Habilitation in “Sustainable Land Governance for Water–Energy–Food Systems”. I am one paper and a public presentation away from achieving it at the Technical University of Munich.

2. Can you tell us how you first discovered open access journals and your thoughts on how open access affects authors?

I am a millennial; thus, I grew up in an analogical world transitioning to a digital one. Therefore, during my studies and at the beginning of my professional career, I spent most of my afternoons and free time in the library. I relied on the subscriptions from my university to get access to scientific journals and impactful research. Moreover, because of the historical approach of my doctoral studies, I needed to read discontinued resources that weren’t available at my local library or digitally. Hence, a significant part of my scholarship went to book acquisition on bidding platforms.

I did not really explore open access journals until I was already a postdoctoral researcher. It truly changed my view on equitable access to data, innovation, and research! I used to believe that information was within reach of everyone, until I found a world that was sort of hidden due to the lack of resources. This is still the reality for many of my colleagues in the Global South; many universities and research institutions have little or no resources to invest in subscriptions (which hinders the ability of being updated) and/or to publish research (which obstructs the visibility of outstanding research projects).

Open access aims to change such disparities. Despite the hard work, it is a laudable cause.

3. What are the key factors and aspects that you consider that should be taken seriously in the process of reviewing manuscripts?

Reviewing manuscripts is, to a certain degree, like supervising research. The findings and results will be tied to the reviewer, even if done anonymously. The reviewer is—at least partly—responsible for the reliability of the data, the findings, and even the recommendations provided. There is an ethical dimension to peer reviewing: it implies having the knowledge and competence on specific topics; it requires being constantly updated on current trends, flourishing topics/innovations, and pressing challenges. Furthermore, one should have the ability to give constructive feedback that would improve both the scientific outcomes and communication of such outcomes.

As a rule of thumb, the ethical considerations in the process of reviewing manuscripts are updated knowledge/expertise on the topic, detailed constructive feedback, and readability of the results.

4. How do you feel about being awarded the Outstanding Reviewer Award, and could you share any insights or recommendations for future reviewers?

I feel truly honored to be awarded the Outstanding Reviewer Award! I have been reading, contributing, and reviewing for Land for many years, so I truly enjoy the acknowledgement from the scientific community.

I would like to recommend my fellow researchers to embark on the review process as well. One should not underestimate how nurturing this process is: it enhances our understanding of global challenges, while making science accessible to all.

5. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?

While we cannot foresee many of the challenges ahead of us (for instance, the pandemic took us by surprise), there are several trends that help us make fair estimations or predictions of what may be coming next. We are about to see the effects of climate change that will transform the world as we know it. This means that we are more likely to see an increment in studies on meteorological variability, biodiversity loss, monitoring systems for environmental risks (such as flooding, landslides, droughts, etc.), societal challenges including displaced population, food insecurity, altered land tenure systems, affected land rights of vulnerable populations (including women, the youth, Indigenous peoples, and the urban/rural/peri-urban poor), and struggles over resources.

Still, what I would hope to see is more research on how to tackle such challenges. That is, innovative responses for adaptation and mitigation, ecosystemic-based adaptation, nature-based solutions, and the strengthening of decolonized land governance systems around the world.