Dr. Ferdinando Villa is an Ikerbasque Research Professor at BC3. He holds a PhD in theoretical Ecology and had a long parallel career as a scientific software designer and engineer. After working in many fields of Ecology, from theoretical island biogeography to spatially-explicit decision analysis, he discovered the joys and pains of interdisciplinary research during a long career in ecological economics at the universities of Maryland and Vermont. He has since expanded the focus of his research to the interface of policy, ecology and economics, concentrating on artificial intelligence approaches to assist environmental decision making and natural system assessment and valuation. Dr. Villa’s best known project is ARIES (Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services), which is producing a next-generation web application meant to make environmental decisions easier and more effective. The ARIES project builds on a partnership of international experts, NGOs, and academics, and pairs user and expert knowledge with advanced artificial intelligence to construct a model of a case study, making sure that no relevant data or knowledge is overlooked. Currently he is a principal investigator in BC3 of several projects like ASSETS or WISER (funded by NERC-ESPA) among others, and coordinates a group of researchers under “Climate and Natural Environment” Research Line.