I am interested in the human dimensions of human-wildlife interactions and, ever since my doctoral work at the WildCRU on the “Human Dimensions of the Conflicts between People and Jaguars in Brazil”, I have been dedicating to the dissemination and strengthening of conservation social science and its application to conservation practice.

My work has involved a variety of human-wildlife conflict issues, including big cats and ranchers in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Mexico; sea lions and fishermen in southern Brazil; wild boars, capybaras, tapirs and farmers in agricultural landscapes; and coatis, marmosets and visitors in urban parks and protected areas of the Atlantic Forest. I am currently based at the Laboratory of Wildlife Ecology, Management and Conservation of the University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba, where I supervise students and teach a graduate course on Human Dimension of Wildlife Management and Conservation. I have taught this course to graduate students and wildlife professionals also in other parts of Brazil besides Oxford, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Bolivia.

In the last few years, I have turned my interest to the integration of social sciences, spatial modelling, and big data analytics, and how to apply this to decision-making and systematic planning and policy, bridging the gap between researchers, planners, managers and policy-makers. As a Research Associate under the Chester Zoo / WildCRU Partnership, I am exploring ways to upscale the analysis and management of human-wildlife conflict, and developing a unified framework for understanding conflict and coexistence in South America, taking advantage of a set of project partners in a wide cross-section of ecological, cultural, socioeconomic and political contexts in Brazil and Bolivia.