Covadonga Orejas is graduate in Biology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and PhD in Natural Sciences from the University of Bremen (Germany). Since 2009 she is part of the permanent staff of the IEO (currently at COB). She investigates the biology and ecology of cold-water corals (CWC) and other benthic organisms since 1996. Her research aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of the CWC ecosystems. She has participated in more than 40 research projects conducted in 12 different geographic areas. She has published more than 60 scientific papers (44 SCI), and 7 book chapters. She is academic editor of PLOS ONE, and reviewer for more than 15 scientific journals, and several funding agencies