I am an ethnobiologist exploring the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and practices for better stewardship of our planet. Although my intellectual home is largely within the field of ethnobiology, my research is inherently interdisciplinary, weaving the middle spaces between cultural anthropology, critical geography and conservation biology. The subject matter of my ethnobiological work is deeply relevant to solving problems of social and environmental injustices at multiple scales.
I hold a PhD in Environmental Sciences (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2015) and seven years of postdoctoral experience at the University of Helsinki (Finland). I have also been a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge (UK), Indiana University Bloomington (US) and the Turkana Basin Institute (Kenya). I have more than 30 months of in-depth ethnographic field experience with different Indigenous communities in the Global South (e.g., Tsimane’ people of the Bolivian Amazon, Maasai and Daasanach people of the Kenyan Rift Valley).
My current research focuses on mapping and quantifying the contributions of Indigenous Peoples in safeguarding biological and cultural diversity from local to global scales through their cultural practices and knowledge systems. I use a broad range of tools and research approaches in my work, ranging from geospatial analyses of Indigenous land tenure at regional and global scales to field-based ethnographic studies of local biocultural systems, including also global dialogues across knowledge systems, and hands-on action for honouring and revitalizing Indigenous and local knowledge. I cultivate the policy relevance of my work through direct participation in several intergovernmental science-policy processes (e.g., IPBES, IUCN, UNESCO). I am currently the PI of the IEK-CHANGES research project, funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council.