John Palmer's Website

About

I am an associate professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where I am a member of the Sociodemography Research Group. My research explores human mobility, inequality, and health from the perspectives of multiple disciplines, including sociodemography, ecology, and law.

 

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Recent Publications

Complete list of publications at Orcid

Citizen science deepens the ecological and climatic dimensions of mosquito surveillance
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Citizen science deepens the ecological and climatic dimensions of mosquito surveillance

Ecography

Evidence of kinship, overwintering, and Wolbachia presence in Aedes albopictus in urban areas and points of entry in the Netherlands
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Evidence of kinship, overwintering, and Wolbachia presence in Aedes albopictus in urban areas and points of entry in the Netherlands

Parasites & Vectors

Invasion dynamics of the disease vector Aedes japonicus in Spain
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Invasion dynamics of the disease vector Aedes japonicus in Spain

Scientific Reports

MosquitoID: Rapid metagenomic sequencing for offline mosquito surveillance
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MosquitoID: Rapid metagenomic sequencing for offline mosquito surveillance

Acta Tropica

Unravelling the activity rhythms of urban vector mosquitoes with smart-trap technology
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Unravelling the activity rhythms of urban vector mosquitoes with smart-trap technology

Scientific Reports

Augmenting community-driven vector surveillance with automated image classification: Lessons from the Artificial Intelligence Mosquito Alert (AIMA) system
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Augmenting community-driven vector surveillance with automated image classification: Lessons from the Artificial Intelligence Mosquito Alert (AIMA) system

Epidemics

Integrating Citizen Science and Field Sampling into Next-Generation Early-Warning Systems for Vector Surveillance: Twenty Years of Municipal Detections of Aedes Invasive Mosquito Species in Spain
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Integrating Citizen Science and Field Sampling into Next-Generation Early-Warning Systems for Vector Surveillance: Twenty Years of Municipal Detections of Aedes Invasive Mosquito Species in Spain

Insects

Effects of mosquito-proofing storm drains on adult and larval mosquito abundance: Protocol of the IDAlErt storm drAin randomiSed controlled trial (IDEAS)
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Effects of mosquito-proofing storm drains on adult and larval mosquito abundance: Protocol of the IDAlErt storm drAin randomiSed controlled trial (IDEAS)

MethodsX

Strengthening resilience to emerging vector-borne diseases in Europe: lessons learnt from countries facing endemic transmission
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Strengthening resilience to emerging vector-borne diseases in Europe: lessons learnt from countries facing endemic transmission

The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

Spatial inference of Culex pipiens abundance and biting activity distribution in the Netherlands using citizen science
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Spatial inference of Culex pipiens abundance and biting activity distribution in the Netherlands using citizen science

Parasites & Vectors

Involving citizen scientists in monitoring arthropod vectors of human and zoonotic diseases: The case of Mosquito Alert in Italy
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Involving citizen scientists in monitoring arthropod vectors of human and zoonotic diseases: The case of Mosquito Alert in Italy

Science of The Total Environment

Assessing and correcting neighborhood socioeconomic spatial sampling biases in citizen science mosquito data collection
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Assessing and correcting neighborhood socioeconomic spatial sampling biases in citizen science mosquito data collection

Scientific Reports

Determinants of intended prevention behaviour against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in the Netherlands and Spain using the MosquitoWise survey: cross-sectional study
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Determinants of intended prevention behaviour against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in the Netherlands and Spain using the MosquitoWise survey: cross-sectional study

BMC Public Health

Development and validation of the MosquitoWise survey to assess perceptions towards mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in Europe
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Development and validation of the MosquitoWise survey to assess perceptions towards mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in Europe

Scientific Reports

Global mosquito observations dashboard (GMOD): creating a user-friendly web interface fueled by citizen science to monitor invasive and vector mosquitoes
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Global mosquito observations dashboard (GMOD): creating a user-friendly web interface fueled by citizen science to monitor invasive and vector mosquitoes

International Journal of Health Geographics

Citizen Science as an Approach for Responding to the Threat of Anopheles stephensi in Africa
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Citizen Science as an Approach for Responding to the Threat of Anopheles stephensi in Africa

Citizen Science: Theory and Practice

A fast and inexpensive genotyping system for the simultaneous analysis of human and Aedes albopictus short tandem repeats
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A fast and inexpensive genotyping system for the simultaneous analysis of human and Aedes albopictus short tandem repeats

Parasites & Vectors

Drivers of longevity of wild-caught Aedes albopictus populations
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Drivers of longevity of wild-caught Aedes albopictus populations

Parasites & Vectors

Adult Aedes albopictus in winter: implications for mosquito surveillance in southern Europe
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Adult Aedes albopictus in winter: implications for mosquito surveillance in southern Europe

The Lancet Planetary Health

Decision-support tools to build climate resilience against emerging infectious diseases in Europe and beyond
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Decision-support tools to build climate resilience against emerging infectious diseases in Europe and beyond

The Lancet Regional Health - Europe

Demographic and motivational differences between participants in analog and digital citizen science projects for monitoring mosquitoes
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Demographic and motivational differences between participants in analog and digital citizen science projects for monitoring mosquitoes

Scientific Reports

Multiple invasions, Wolbachia and human-aided transport drive the genetic variability of Aedes albopictus in the Iberian Peninsula
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Multiple invasions, Wolbachia and human-aided transport drive the genetic variability of Aedes albopictus in the Iberian Peninsula

Scientific Reports

Modeling the impact of surveillance activities combined with physical distancing interventions on COVID-19 epidemics at a local level
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Modeling the impact of surveillance activities combined with physical distancing interventions on COVID-19 epidemics at a local level

Infectious Disease Modelling

Publishing data to support the fight against human vector-borne diseases
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Publishing data to support the fight against human vector-borne diseases

GigaScience

Integrating Global Citizen Science Platforms to Enable Next-Generation Surveillance of Invasive and Vector Mosquitoes
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Integrating Global Citizen Science Platforms to Enable Next-Generation Surveillance of Invasive and Vector Mosquitoes

Insects

AIMSurv: First pan-European harmonized surveillance of Aedes invasive mosquito species of relevance for human vector-borne diseases
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AIMSurv: First pan-European harmonized surveillance of Aedes invasive mosquito species of relevance for human vector-borne diseases

GigaByte

Mosquito Alert: leveraging citizen science to create a GBIF mosquito occurrence dataset
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Mosquito Alert: leveraging citizen science to create a GBIF mosquito occurrence dataset

GigaByte

Deep learning identification for citizen science surveillance of tiger mosquitoes
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Deep learning identification for citizen science surveillance of tiger mosquitoes

Scientific Reports

Global Mosquito Alert
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Global Mosquito Alert

Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy

Citizen Science: A Gateway for Innovation in Disease-Carrying Mosquito Management?
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Citizen Science: A Gateway for Innovation in Disease-Carrying Mosquito Management?

Trends in Parasitology

Group Privacy in the Age of Big Data
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Group Privacy in the Age of Big Data

Group Privacy: New Challenges of Data Technologies

Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa
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Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa

Nature Ecology & Evolution

Citizen Science Provides a Reliable and Scalable Tool to Track Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes
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Citizen Science Provides a Reliable and Scalable Tool to Track Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes

Nature Communications

Direct Evidence of Adult Aedes albopictus Dispersal by Car
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Direct Evidence of Adult Aedes albopictus Dispersal by Car

Scientific Reports

Movement behavior of a tropical mammal: The case of Tapirus terrestris
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Movement behavior of a tropical mammal: The case of Tapirus terrestris

Ecological Modelling




Teaching

I teach Theories of International Mobility and the Incorporation of Immigrants. I have previously taught Techniques of Statistical Analysis, Crime Mapping and Spatial Analysis, Data Mapping for Marketing, Research Methods for Global Studies, Advanced Methods for Criminological Research, Economics of Migration, Public International Law, and Forced Migration.

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Current Projects

Complete list of projects at Orcid

Planet4Health

Planet4Health

A Multisectoral Approach to Adaptation & Mitigation of Adverse Effects of Vector-Borne Diseases, Environmental Pollution and Climate Change on Planetary Health

E4Warning

E4Warning

Eco-Epidemiological Intelligence for Early Warning and response to Mosquito-borne disease risk in Endemic and Emergence Settings

IDAlert

IDAlert

Addressing the impacts of climate change on the emergence and spread of infectious diseases

iConsumers

iConsumers

Protecting consumers in Digital Platforms




Past Projects

Human-Mosquito Interaction Project

Human-Mosquito Interaction Project

European Research Council, 2020–2026

Host-vector networks, mobility, and the socio-ecological context of mosquito-borne disease

Climate Change and Human Mobility Project

Climate Change and Human Mobility Project

Spanish State Research Agency, 2023–2025

Exploring how climate change is impacting human mobility and what this means for population health and inequality

VEO

VEO

European Commission, 2020–2024

Versatile emerging infectious disease observatory: Forecasting, nowcasting and tracking in a changing world

Mosquito Exposure in City Spaces

Mosquito Exposure in City Spaces

UPF Planetary Wellbeing, 2023–2024

UPF student interns surveyed people across Barcelona about how city spaces shape their exposure to mosquitoes

AlgorithmLaw

AlgorithmLaw

Spanish State Research Agency, 2022–2024

Opening the Black Box of Algorithmic Decisions and the Law

Big Mosquito Bytes

Big Mosquito Bytes

la Caixa Foundation, 2019–2022

Providing Spain's public health agencies with tools for targeted and effective entomological and health management

Distancia-COVID

Distancia-COVID

CSIC, 2020–2021

The impact of social distancing on the spread of COVID-19 in Spain, including a large survey of changing contact patterns with open data for disease modelling

Mosquito Alert Barcelona

Mosquito Alert Barcelona

Barcelona City Council, 2019–2021

Daily tiger mosquito risk maps for Barcelona, built from citizen science and smart traps with the city's Public Health Agency




Activity-Space Lab

In 2025 I founded the Activity-Space Lab at UPF, a small team studying human mobility and the places where people spend time. Our interests range from neighborhood-scale movement to global migration, with a focus on climate change, human-vector interactions, and health. The lab is part of the Sociodemography Research Group and develops open research tools such as Space Mapper and Wellbeing Mapper.

Activity-Space Lab



Mosquito Alert

This is a citizen science system that I co-direct with Frederic Bartumeus at the Spanish National Research Council’s Blanes Center for Advanced Studies (CEAB-CSIC). It enables anyone in the world to help research and control mosquitoes that can carry diseases. Please participate!

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Contact

Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Departament de Ciències Polítiques i Socials
Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
08005 Barcelona
Spain

john.palmer [at] upf.edu

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