Rate My Professor Estima Ramalho

Dr. Cristina Estima Ramalho is a Lecturer in the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Western Australia. She earned her PhD in Ecology from 2009 to 2012, focusing on the effects of fragmentation on remnant Banksia woodland plant communities in the Perth Metropolitan Area, an MSc in Geographic Information Systems from 2002 to 2004, and an Honours degree in Biology from 1996 to 2002. Her professional career encompasses diverse roles in research and management. From 2016 to 2021, she served as a postdoctoral researcher with the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub of the National Environmental Science Program, acting as Project Leader of the Urban Greening for Biodiversity and Liveability Project from 2018 until the Hub's conclusion. Prior to that, she worked as a Spatial Information Management Officer at the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions from 2012 to 2015 and as a GIS Botanist at NEMUS Gestão e Requalificação Ambiental, Lda from 2004 to 2007. She also holds positions as Casual Teaching in Multi-Discipline and Research Officer in the School of Humanities.

Dr. Ramalho's research specializes in social-ecological research, cross-cultural ecology, urban ecology, and conservation planning. Her key interests include aligning Western science and First Nations knowledges to inform land and water use planning and management, people's connections with place, biodiversity conservation in cities, and the interplay between ecological restoration, Reconciliation, social cohesion, and healing. She employs spatial ecology frameworks, GIS, and spatial analysis in projects addressing spatial conservation prioritization, species distribution modeling for climate change impacts, and topo-climatic surfaces. Selected publications include 'Global perspectives, local solutions: Improving human–predator coexistence through collaboration, meaningful experiences and cross-cultural knowledge' (People and Nature, 2025, with Almuna Morales et al.), 'Stakeholder networks underpinning the transformative practice of urban roadside verge greening' (Landscape and Urban Planning, 2025, with Ligtermoet et al.), 'Characterizing the habitat of road trauma hotspots for threatened black cockatoos in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia' (Pacific Conservation Biology, 2026, with Coyle et al.), 'Putting down roots: Relationships between urban forests and residents’ place attachment' (Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 2024), and 'Conserving urban biodiversity: Current practice, barriers, and enablers' (Conservation Letters, 2023). In December 2025, she received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Collaborative Indigenous Research Partnerships. She has delivered public lectures, including 'Understanding how to protect and enhance Nature in the city' (2018) and 'On a path to improve the way we think about, understand and intervene in urban green spaces' (2017), supervises PhD and MSc students on topics such as First Nations' connections to planned burning, human-raptor coexistence, urban forest place attachment, and black cockatoo habitats, and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 11, 13, and 15. Her work engages Nyoongar communities, environmental practitioners, local landcare groups, and government agencies.