Jimena Alvarez

Dr. Jimena Alvarez is a Research Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, where she leads the Resilience & Development Group's work on scenarios as part of the Oxford Martin School Programme on Systemic Resilience and research programmes on greening finance for nature.

Her educational background includes:

• Industrial Engineering (BEng and MEng equivalent) from Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires
• MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge
• PhD in Management from Lancaster University

With 17 years of cross-sectoral experience spanning engineering, climate change, nature-based solutions, economic modeling, and financial analysis across Latin America, Europe, and the United States, Dr. Alvarez specializes in integrating quantitative risk assessment with systems thinking to develop resilient environmental finance mechanisms. Her research bridges engineering principles with ecological economics, focusing on how financial systems can be restructured to support biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation through nature-based infrastructure.

She pioneers methodologies for quantifying systemic risks at the climate-finance nexus, developing scenario frameworks that model cascading impacts of environmental degradation on economic stability. Her work on greening finance for nature establishes practical pathways for redirecting capital flows toward ecosystem restoration, emphasizing measurable outcomes in carbon sequestration and watershed protection.

Dr. Alvarez leads the Resilience & Development Group at the Environmental Change Institute, which operates at the intersection of the Oxford Martin School's systemic resilience initiative and practical financial innovation for environmental sustainability.