Dr Mariana Catapani

Mariana is an interdisciplinary conservationist who has been working as a wildlife conservation practitioner for the past fifteen years in Brazil. Currently, she is a conservation Fellow of the Chester Zoo and coordinates the Human-Wildlife Coexistence Department at the Brazilian NGO ICAS – Wild Animal Conservation Institute. In this position, her primary role is to design, establish and evaluate the human dimensions of conservation in all the NGO´s projects as well as coordinate a small team. Her research involves using social science tools to investigate the complexities of human-wildlife coexistence. A strong element of her work is seeking and testing novel and experimental approaches to benefit people and wildlife. Examples of current work include Highway Heroes (an inclusive program seeking to decrease wildlife-vehicle collisions), production of certified giant armadillo friendly honey (reducing retaliation of beekeepers towards giant armadillos), CãoVivência (a multidisciplinary project decreasing attacks of domestic dogs on giant anteaters), decreasing out of control fires in the Pantanal (collaborating in a community fire brigade and using landowners’ perceptions to shape fire prevention public policies), and finding solutions to urban wildlife challenges. Mariana strives to generate and integrate scientific evidence into conservation action.

Mariana holds a BSc in Biology from the Federal University of São Carlos, a MSc in Ecology, and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of São Paulo. She acted as visiting researcher at the Conservation and Human Behaviour Research Group at Bangor University (UK).