Mariana C. Hernández-Montilla

As a child growing up in Venezuela, I witnessed the challenges of complex economic and social issues, which ignited my fascination with nature, science, and social justice. My passions are centered around promoting community well-being and biodiversity conservation while addressing social inequalities. I am particularly interested in studying the intricate relationship between humans and nature and discovering methods to tackle plastic pollution in rural communities. Throughout my academic and professional career, I have gained experience in a diverse range of fields, including biodiversity conservation, socioecological human-nature relationships, multi-criteria analysis, climate change modeling, vulnerability and resilience analysis of complex systems, and science communication. In the upcoming four years, I will be pursuing my PhD at the University of Manchester, exploring the changing nature of forest cover and human development with an unprecedented scale and level of detail. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from The University of Zulia in Venezuela and a Master’s degree in Natural Resources and Rural Development from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Mexico. Currently, I am working as a Conservation Social Scientist, creating community outreach tools to measure citizens' attitudes and engagement with existing infrastructure, to understand how people, places, and nature interact and what socio-economic factors influence change in urban areas. Additionally, I am conducting an archetype analysis in Nature-based Solutions to identify risks and opportunities for transformative urban adaptation in the Global South at Trinity College Dublin.

October 2022