Natalia Pirani Ghilardi-Lopes is a highly respected Brazilian scientist with a solid academic background in ecology, biodiversity and environmental education. She holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) and a PhD in Botany with emphasis on marine benthic ecology, also at USP. She is currently an associate professor at UFABC, where she leads research and outreach programs focused on citizen science, coastal ecosystems, marine and botanical education, and community-based biodiversity monitoring.
Natalia served as one of the instructors in the UFABC Pollinator Monitoring and Citizen Science course in which our team participated. Her guidance provided scientific depth, methodological rigor and a broader understanding of how pollinators, native bees and plant–pollinator interactions can be monitored and studied through citizen science approaches. Her work is nationally recognized, and she is an active member of the Brazilian Citizen Science Network, contributing to projects that bridge academic research with community engagement and environmental conservation.
