María Amelia
Calonge García

Amelia Calonge is the ex-President of the Spanish Earth Science Teaching Association. During her leadership, she has organized symposia, training courses, cycles of conferences, field activities, Geodays, Earth science Olympiads, etc. She is a paleontology and Geology professor at the University of Alcalá (Madrid, Spain), where she is leading a multidisciplinary research team working on Geology teaching. She is specialized in the Middle Cretaceous Foraminifera, with focus on the Iberian Cretaceous carbonate platforms. Most of her research over the last years has been concentrated in: Educational resources and strategies in Secondary School and University Teaching and Geological /Palaeontological Heritage definition and protection. She also has active, multi-disciplinary collaboration and ongoing projects with other experimental centers as the Centers for Secondary Teacher's Background or GEO-Schools (European Union project supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme). She was also the director of one of the research groups in Alcalá University, Teaching Earth science. Since 2010 she has organized the Spanish Olympiad. And Amelia is the coordinator of its different levels (local, national and international: IESO). Also, she has participated in the organization of a set of activities linked to the so called Geotourism that are highly rated by our society: Geodays. For this, she was distinguished as a COLLEGE OF HONOR from the Illustrious Official College of Geologists. She won the FIRST PRIZE in the final of the Science in Action Program (2014). And a RECOGNITION for her work granted by the UNESCO Chair of Science Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (2019). In summary, she has participated in 25 Spanish research projects, in 8 of them as Main Investigator, as well as in 3 international research projects and 2 articles 83. He has published more than 100 articles (20 JCR), 10 books and 25 book chapters, and has participated in national and international congresses with more than 150 communications in those congresses. She has been part of the Organizing Committee of several Congresses, of Scientific Committees (Geological Congresses of Spain 2016 and 2020-21) and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Geopark of the Molina de Aragón-Alto Tajo Region since 2013. She has directed 3 theses doctoral. She has been involved in the university management as the vice-director of several Departments, before she was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Education during six years (2013-2019). Since December 2022 she has accepted lead the UNESCO Chair of Scientific Education for Latin America and the Caribbean of the UAH.