Damian Copena Rodriguez

Damian Copena Rodriguez serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Santiago de Compostela's Faculty of Administration and Business Management. His academic work bridges economic history with contemporary rural development challenges through dual affiliations with the Business and Sectoral History Study Group (GESPIC) and the Interuniversity Research Center for Atlantic Cultural Landscapes (CISPAC), fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across Spanish and Portuguese institutions.

His research program centers on three interconnected domains: the historical evolution of rural industries (with specialized focus on Galician beekeeping traditions), socioeconomic impact assessment of renewable energy infrastructure in rural communities, and forest revitalization through collective action models. This work uniquely combines archival economic analysis with field studies of contemporary rural transitions, particularly examining how historical institutional frameworks shape modern responses to energy transitions.

Dr. Copena Rodriguez has earned significant recognition including the Valentín Paz Andrade award for research in the Economy of Galicia among six research prizes. His scholarly output comprises over 20 JCR-indexed journal articles alongside books and book chapters examining Atlantic coastal economies.

As a supervisor, he maintains active graduate mentorship within USC's Department of Applied Economics, emphasizing methodological rigor in historical-economic research. His international collaboration network, anchored by a two-year research period at Lisbon's Higher Institute of Agronomy, facilitates comparative studies of rural economies across Atlantic-facing European regions. Current projects through GESPIC and CISPAC investigate community-based adaptation models for renewable energy integration in culturally significant landscapes.