Edelmiro Lopez Iglesias

Edelmiro Lopez Iglesias is Professor and Director of the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Santiago de Compostela's Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences. He earned his PhD in 1994 with an Extraordinary Award, focusing on demographic dynamics and land structures in Galician agriculture. His research spans agrarian policy, rural development, and regional economics, with extensive consultancy work for international organizations including the EU and Inter-American Development Bank.

Key research areas include land mobility, agricultural abandonment, forest fires, and dairy sector economics. He coordinates the ECOAGRASOC research group (recognized as a Competitive Reference Group) and previously directed the Galician Rural Development Agency (2005-2009).

Publications demonstrate consistent focus on:

• Socioeconomic drivers of land use change
• Policy evaluation in agrarian systems
• Spatial economic modeling
• Rural governance frameworks

Awards include an Accésit in Spain's National Prize for Agrarian Publications (1995). He served on Portugal's Independent Technical Commission analyzing the 2017 wildfires.

His 30+ competitive research projects and 50+ institutional contracts reflect significant grant acquisition. Current work examines infrastructure planning, territorial inequalities, and biocultural systems in rural landscapes.