Julen Urra is currently doing his PhD thesis at the Department of Conservation of Natural Resources (Soil Microbial Ecology Group), NEIKER-Tecnalia, on the selection and characterization of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) and their implementation on sustainable agriculture, under the supervision of Dr. Iker Mijangos and Dr. Carlos Garbisu.
He has got a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences (University of Basque Contry, 2011) and a Master of Science degree on Environmental Toxicology and Pollution (University of Basque Country, 2013).
His main research area is the characterization of plant growth promoting bacterial strains through the identification of phenotypic traits associated with plant promotion and biocontrol. He is also working in the implementation of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers as alternatives to synthetic fertilizers by assessing their effect on (i) soil health and quality through the utilization of soil microbial properties, (ii) crop yield and nutritional quality.
