Iker Val has been involved in Cannabis movement the last 25 years. He started to develop the Canabis Social Club concept in Basque Country Spain in 2000 year founding the fisrt CSC in San Sebastian Ganjazz Art Club, one of the first cannabis culture innovating spaces wich started to create mind lounges around the cannabis culture in Spain, as well Iker has developed an intense work on the cannabis policy reforms activism from the beginning of the century, he is been doing posite lobby on cannabis to influence on positive to the people that make the laws, forming part of the Board direction of the National CSC Federation, Basque CSC Federation, and Plattform Regulación Responsable. In 2012 he founded Renovatio Fundation, a non profit social cannabis research foundation , wich has publised multiple reports and books about the cannabis policies and developed during 7 years the International Cannabis Forum.
In 2018 he co founded Sovereing Fields in US with his partners and friends when the government regulated hemp federally, until 2020 he is the manager operations in the Sovereign Fields division in San sebastian Spain Europe, this division is focused on Pharma level and It has a research license on cannabis autorished by the National Health Agency, Iker Val has riched and shared multiple cannabis experiences and has a special vision about what the future has for the modern cannabis perspectives, once it becomes a global comoditty.
Oier is an experienced, science based cannabis researcher. His years of direct experience with University and the breeder network collabs in the Basque region of Spain, brought the practical experience to his research and doctoral thesis that most researchers lack. This gave Oier and his entire team the experience that led to the discovery of Sovereign “THC Transitions” – One of our proprietary breeding methods that allow us to naturally manipulate the plant chemistry and it’s response to environmental conditions such as geography and pest or disease pressures.
Pierre-Antoine has a doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Lille with a Masters in Neuropharmacology. He received pharma botany training in Manipal, India.
Pierre-Antoine was responsible for the development of new high-CBD cannabis genetics for a producer with a license in Israel (Better Cann Pharmaceutical). As part of this work, and in order to guarantee the quality and stability of the final product, pollination, breeding and cloning techniques were standardize.
Back since he completed his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s studies in Chemistry in 2019, he wanted to contribute to the medicinal Cannabis field with his own research and study. So, attracted by this scientific field, and sharing a common interest with the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), he immersed in what actually is his PhD project at the end of 2019, within the line of research for the development of analytical tools for a standardized medicinal Cannabis production and for the search of biomarkers towards a personalized medicine.
Currently, he is developing a full non-targeted analytical method, based on Liquid Chromatography coupled to High Resolution Mass Spectrometry, to identify as much metabolites and compounds present in Cannabis as possible, and this method will have its application scope in the metabolomic research of Cannabis. Moreover, he is conducting a metabolomics-based experiment, in order to build a predictive tool for Cannabis phenotypes’ performance under environmental stress, as the cornerstone of this research project. With the knowledge and empirical results obtained from the experiments, he will create a targeted analytical method, as simple and fast as possible, to determine in early growth phases of the plants their capability to adapt to adverse environments.
Daniel began his path through the cannabis world while he studied a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, specializing in sculpture and photography, and he followed with a degree in children teaching. He complemented his studies with his first steps in the cannabis farming. Since then, he has been an active member of the cannabis regulatory movements in Spain, taking part in the settlement of social cannabis clubs in the Basque Country, as he was one of the main cultivators of the Ganjazz Art Club.
In 2012, alongside three partners, set up Coachella Dreams S.L., a worldwide technical assistance company for Cannabis Sativa L. cultivations. He has collaborated in the development of diverse farming programs focused to spanish seeds banks, aiming to stabilize different phenotypes of Cannabis sativa L., either feminized or automatic strains.
At first, cannabis drew his attention as a recreational source, but as this breeder grew his experience within the cannabis study and research, he expanded his interest to the remainder of the vegetal domain. In 2018, he acquired a piece of land of 1 hectare, in which he manages a near 1000m2 biodiverse greenhouse, where he applies various sustainable cultivation techniques related to permaculture. Since 2020 is one of the breeders of the Sovereign Field división in the Basque Country, alongside Jon Illarraz.
Ion developed his cultivation skills after five years growing organic food. After that, just like an evolutionary process he started working on cannabis. In 2012, alongside three partners, set up Coachella Dreams S.L., a worldwide technical assistance company for Cannabis Sativa L. cultivations. He has collaborated in the development of diverse farming programs focused to spanish seed banks, aiming to stabilize different phenotypes of Cannabis sativa L., either feminized or automatic strains.I on has experience on the development of varieties, crosses and assembly of crops always hand in hand with good work.
Ryan Davidson is the Co-Founder, Lead Breeder and Co-CEO of Sovereign Fields. With nearly two decades involved in the cannabis industry, Ryan has extensive expertise breeding and cultivating cannabis and hemp.
Ryan began his career in the Humboldt Mountains growing flowers. Ryan met Eric Foster and their friendship and flower production business blossomed. As pioneers in Northern Cali Cannabis, Ryan traveled around the world to meet breeders and discover cultivars with new and interesting flavors to insert into his breeding program. He founded Humboldt Seed Organization and become to famous seed bank crew developing a network of dedicated and passionate breeders that had been advancing cannabis technology throughout the World. This unknown team spent decades advancing and improving feminization and auto-feminization – seed technologies that are enabling the US and global hemp industry. By introducing the California genetics worldwide, brought new and exciting flavors and effects to an already extensive genetic bank HSO . More recently, Ryan Davidson began collaborating with Universitys and Sovereign Fields Europe while he was working in te industry and has years of practical experience with scientific researchers.
Concha Tiana is the quality manager for all research lines in the Sovereign Fields’ projects. She is in charge of supervising and validating all production and research processes, ensuring that these meet the requirements of the different quality certifications, such as GACP or GMP.
Concha Tiana has a degree in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid (1977). She later specialized in Industrial and Galenic Pharmacy (Sep. 2000) and also received training in medication and drug analysis and control (March 2001), becoming an expert in European registration procedures (Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Madrid / COFM / Madrid Official Pharmacists Association, 2003).
Tiana has over 40 years’ work experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where she has acquired extensive multidisciplinary expertise, especially in the area of drug quality registration. For much of her career she has worked as the technical director for different drug manufacturing laboratories, being responsible for the implementation and maintenance of GMP regulations.
Néstor will be responsible for the coordination and supervision of all lab work, especially focusing on everything related to the analysis of cannabinoids and terpenes during the development of the project. Néstor has a PhD. in Chemical Science (1993) and is Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Analytical Chemistry department of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) since 2011. He is currently the head of the department as well as a member of the IBeA Research Group (www.ehu.eus/Ibea), together with 14 other PhDs and over 20 investigators. It is worth pointing out that IBeA is fully involved in Plentzia’s Marine Station (PiE, www.ehu.eus/PIE).
His doctoral thesis focused on the study of the balance of solutions. He later completed a post-doc at JRC-IRMM (Geel, Belgium) on the implementation of analysis by instrumental neutron activation for the quality control of the production of reference materials. Back at UPV/EHU, he focused on environmental analysis (organic micro-pollutants) and ecotoxicology.
More recently, he has conducted applied research activities with emerging firms: bioactive compound recovery and biomedical analysis (anti-tumour hyperthermic studies). He is the author and co-author of more than 130 publications in international journals; he has been the main researcher in three Ministry projects; and is currently participating in an H2020 project. Néstor has been the supervisor of 12 doctoral theses and over 25 Master’s theses. In addition, he is the co-author of 4 Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry textbooks in the Basque language. He was the coordinator of the Chemistry degree at the Faculty of Science and Technology between 2008 and 2011, and nowadays he is a member of the academic board of the Erasmus + Masters in Marine Environment and Resources, which includes the universities of Bordeaux, Southampton and Liege.
Dr. Hernández will coordinate the investigation lines related to plant physiology, such as in vitro cultivation. After completing his doctorate (Mode of action of the herbicide glyphosate in the soybean – Bradyrhizobium japonicum symbiosis), he did a two-year post-doc at the S.O. Duke laboratory, Natural Product Utilization Research Unit, at the National Center for the Development of Natural Product, USDA, in Oxford, Mississippi, USA (Effect on plants and mode of action of terpenoid synthesis inhibitors, and isolation and mode of action of terpenoid phytotoxins).
He later spent a year as a full-time acting Professor at the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology at the Faculty of Science and Technology at UPV/EHU, and then completed a 3-year post-doc in the same department (Development of bioindicators and bioassays for stress detection in plants). Thanks to all of this experience, he was selected by a private firm (Obrascon Huarte Lain / OHL) for the development of an R&D&I project (“Development of criteria and methods for the success assessment of slope restoration through hydroseeding”). This project was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (PROFIT Funding, CDTI) and was led by OHL. Afterwards Antonio returned to UPV/EHU as acting Professor before later becoming PhD. Assistant Professor.
In 2016 Antonio passed a public examination for the post of Associate Professor at the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology (UPV/EHU). He is now part of the research group EKOFISKO (Ecophysiology of stress and contamination in plants) led by José María Becerril. Nowadays the scientific and technical interest of his research is based on the dynamic response of plants to environmental stress (mainly abiotic), and on the adaptation and acclimatization mechanisms that allow them to grow in different environments and conditions, particularly in contaminated environments. He has written 13 book chapters and 34 scientific publications, from which 22 have been published in international journals.
Dr. Guillermo Moreno Sanz has a degree in Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry from the University of Zaragoza. He completed his doctorate in Neuroscience from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2010.
Guillermo has considerable international experience as a researcher with long-term stays in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States, where he has developed a major part of his career. He worked for over 8 years at the University of California, in Irvine, together with Professor Daniele Piomelli, a cannabinoid pharmacology pioneer. Dr. Moreno Sanz is the author of more than 25 scientific articles and 3 patents related to the endocannabinoid system and pain control. These patents have been licensed for biotechnological startups in order to advance its preclinical development. Guillermo is a member of several research societies in the field of cannabinoids (SEIC, IRCS, IACM, etc.), and he frequently appears as a guest speaker in conferences and technical reports for regulatory bodies, such as the report on research and cannabis by the US National Academy of Sciences. He currently lives in the Basque Country, where he works as a research project consultant and manager for companies and groups linked to the medical cannabis industry in Europe, Canada and the United States.