I am a Lecturer at the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, and I work in social-ecological research, cross-cultural ecology, urban ecology, and conservation planning. Key research topics and interests include:

• Alignment of western and First Nations knowledges to inform land and water use planning and management
• People's connection with place
• Biodiversity conservation in cities 
• The link between ecological restoration, Reconciliation, social cohesion and healing

Between 2016 and 2021, I was a postdoc with the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub of National Environmental Science Program. From 2018 to the end of the Hub, I was Project Leader of the Urban Greening for Biodiversity and Liveability Project.

Prior to 2016, I worked at the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. The common denominator to the several projects I worked on was the use of spatial ecology frameworks and tools to address specific ecological questions. Projects included spatial conservation prioritization, species distribution models to understand impacts of future climate change and to support phylogeographic inferences, and development of topo-climatic spatial surfaces using ibutton technology.

In my PhD (2009-2012), I studied the effects of fragmentation on the remnant Banksia woodland plant communities of the Perth Metropolitan Area. There and then started my discovery journey of and connection with Western Australian flora and landscapes, and their unique evolutionary and human history.

Final stages of wrapping up the cross-cultural project Noongar Water Knowledge in the Djarlgarro Bilya (Canning River) catchment - implications for land and water use planning. This project started in June 2020, in the last year of the NESP CAUL Hub, growing into a 3-year project, and a journey that has been guided by a group of Noongar Elders, and has had the support of various stakeholder agencies. As part of this project, fifteen Elders have co-authored a book of stories about the Djarlgarro Bilya.

Tackling complex (urban) sustainability challenges requires an interdisciplinary approach, willingness to bridge across disciplines and knowledge systems, and to work with and learn from local communities, environmental practitioners and leaders. My work fits within this space and is relevant to local and state governments, and non-government organizations working in landcare, Reconciliation and place activation.

My current projects involve close collaboration with the Nyoongar community of the Perth Area, environmental practitioners working across several LGAs and State Government agencies, Perth NRM and local landcare groups. 

• Noongar Water Knowledge in the Djarlgarro Beeliar catchment – Implications for land-use and water planning; 2020-2023; $570K [NESP; UWA; Water Corporation; Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions; Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage; Department of Water and Environmental Regulation; Department of Communities; Department of Education; Metronet; City of Canning; Perth NRM; Urbaqua)

• Unit Co-coordinator, ENVT4421 Principles of Environmental Management (School of Agric & Environment) (since 2022).
• Invited Lecturer, ENVT3363 Ecological Processes (School of Biological Sciences) (since 2023).
• Invited Lecturer, LACH4423 Landscape and Urban Ecology (School of Design) (since 2016).
• Tutor, GEOG3303 Environmental Policy and Planning (School of Agriculture & Environment) (2024).
• Invited Lecturer & Tutor, LACH3030 Plants and Landscape Systems, ENVT2250 Ecology, PLNT2204 Plant Diversity and Evolution, while doing my PhD studies (prior to 2012).

I welcome PhD and MSc students from different fields that would like to develop a project in topics related with my research. Recent students include:

• David Windsor, PhD (2024-2028) - Exploring First Nation Australians connection to planned burning through an analysis of Cultural obligations and responsibilities for fire (supervision Alison Lullfitz, Cristina E. Ramalho, Sean Winter). 
• Rocio Almuna, PhD (2021-2025) – Promoting landscapes of coexistence for humans and raptors with an interdisciplinary scope: a comparative study from the Global South (supervision Peter Speldewinde, Stephen Hopper, Cristina E. Ramalho, José Tomás Ibarra).
• Harrison McGrath, MSc (2021-2022) – How the urban forest influences residents’ place attachment (supervision Cristina E. Ramalho, Tim Kurtz, Erik Veneklaas, Carmen Lawrence) (completed).
• Matthew Coyle, MSc (2020-2021) – Characterizing the habitat of road trauma ‘hotspots’ for threatened black cockatoos in Metropolitan Perth (supervision Peter Mawson, Michael Craig, Cristina E. Ramalho) (completed).

• English (proficient)
• Portuguese (mother language)
• Spanish (very good)
• French (some)
• Nyoongar (a few words)