FRANCISCO JAVIER
ORTEGA COLOMA

Francisco Ortega is a Professor of Paleontology at the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), where he also leads the Evolutionary Biology Research Group (Grupo de Biología Evolutiva–UNED). His research focuses on the evolution of Mesozoic reptiles and the reconstruction of the ecosystems in which they lived. He has participated in numerous paleontological research projects in Spain, Portugal, Niger, Argentina, and the United States, serving as principal investigator in several regional and national initiatives. His work has significantly contributed to the description of new taxa of dinosaurs, turtles, crocodiles, and other Mesozoic reptiles, discovered in key fossil sites such as the Lower Cretaceous deposits of Las Hoyas (Cuenca) and Morella (Castellón), the Upper Cretaceous sites of Lo Hueco (Cuenca) and Poyos (Guadalajara), the Triassic site of El Atance (Guadalajara), the Upper Jurassic beds of the Lusitanian Basin in Pombal (Portugal), and Cenozoic deposits in the Duero Basin (Zamora, Salamanca, and Soria). In the field of paleontological conservation, he has served as curator of the paleontology collections at the Museo de las Ciencias de Castilla-La Mancha. He has contributed to the development of museographic and museological projects for institutions such as the Museo del Jurásico de Asturias and the Museo de Paleontología de Castilla-La Mancha. He is also a collaborator of the Sala de las Tortugas at the University of Salamanca. Additionally, he is actively involved in science outreach initiatives, including temporary exhibitions and interpretation centers, notably contributing to the “La ruta de los dinosaurios de Cuenca”. Throughout his career, he has received institutional recognition for his scientific, museological, and outreach work, including the Regional Merit Award (Placa al Mérito Regional) from the Government of Castilla-La Mancha in 2016.