I am an environmental social scientist and transdisciplinary action researcher at the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Management (INGENIO, CSIC-UV). My work focuses on understanding the patterns, interactions, and feedback between human systems and nature, and on how collective action can be organised toward equitable and sustainable outcomes in social-ecological systems.

I specialise in policy and institutional analysis, combining evolutionary and resilience thinking, power analysis, and a commons perspective. A core thread of my conceptual work examines why social-ecological systems become "locked in" to unsustainable pathways — through path dependence, rigidity traps, and power imbalances — and what institutional conditions, pluralistic approaches, and transformative governance arrangements can help unlock change toward more sustainable and regenerative trajectories.

I currently work across several interacting realms: agriculture and food systems, coastal wetlands, water management, biodiversity and nature conservation, and the soil commons. I coordinate and contribute to European research projects bringing together universities, research institutes, public bodies, farmer organisations, and civil society across multiple countries, developing governance models, monitoring and learning tools, and theories of change that support transformative innovation.

In practice, I enjoy working on the resolution of complex problems with others. My role is that of an analyst and facilitator, finding ways to improve policy and decision-making under uncertainty to promote sustainability across sectors: natural resources, nature conservation, agriculture, ecosystem management, environmental and coastal planning, biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and emergency aid. I have experience facilitating and organising social interaction in meetings and workshops, including situations involving significant power asymmetries.

My research relies on complexity science and a pluralistic lens, the co-production of knowledge to understand and tackle challenges together, and the embrace of uncertainty and surprise through adaptive approaches to decision-making, management, and governance.

 You can get in touch with me at pfmendez@gmail.com, pfmendez@ingenio.upv.es

ORCID: 0000-0003-1825-6496

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