Débora Martins de Freitas

Débora De Freitas currently holds a permanent Lecturer position with the State University of São Paulo (UNESP)-Campus Litoral Paulista and member of the PostGraduate Program on Biodiversity of Coastal Environments of the same institution. Recently she was nominated ´Australia Global Alumni Embassador´ by the Australia Government. She worked as a Research Fellow with Technological Institute of Aeronautics/Brazil (ITA, 2013-2015), the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong/Australia (2010-2012) and the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University/Australia (2008-2010). Débora has a multidisciplinary background in Oceanography (BSc 2000 and Masters 2003) by the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil) with complementary studies in marine policy (Center for the Study of Marine Policy, Delaware. Her main research interests lay on spatial modelling and on the linkages between science-policy in the management of coastal and marine resources. Prior to her PhD in Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, Australia (2006-2010) Débora worked (2003-2005) as Supervisor of the Environment Department of the Rio Grande City Council (Southern Brazil) where she was the Program Leader of the Shoreline Integrated Management Federal Program. She has published work widely on fisheries spatial modelling, knowledge-governance interface, adaptive management, adaptation and climate change, public participation and conservation planning. Débora is also a member of the Tropical Water Research Alliance - TWRA, research associate with International Institute for Sustainability Australia - IIS AU, and partner in the initiative Brasil´s Ocean Decade and the Ocean Decade Network (Unesco). (Source: Lattes Curriculum)