Anazelia Tedesco

Anazelia grew up in the countryside of Brazil, in a coffee farm surrounded by the biodiverse Atlantic Forest and impressive granite mountains recognised as a unique natural monument in the country.

She completed her Honours in Biology (2009), and MSc in Animal Biology (2011) at the Federal University of Espirito Santo in Brazil. She is now a PhD student at The University of Queensland, in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Her work, supervised by Prof Jonathan Rhodes, Prof Hugh Possingham, Dr. Angela Dean, and Prof Pedro Brancalion, focuses on investigating mechanisms to promote the persistence of re-growth forests in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, improving large-scale forest restoration through natural regeneration. As part of Anazelia’s PhD, she is working in collaboration with several organisations such as The Nature Conservancy, World Resources Institute-Brazil, WWF-Brazil, Espirito Santo Government, and the University of Sao Paulo. 

Anazelia is interested in the science-policy interface, as well as in environmental governance designed to make links between science and society. Anazelia also assists with decision-support and capacity building for a gender-responsive approach in ecosystem restoration projects, in collaboration with The Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact. Before moving to Australia, she worked as an Environmental Analyst, implementing policies, and participating in management planning for protected areas. Following that, she held for five years the position of Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management in the largest Brazilian payment for environmental services program.