Raquel C. Mendes

PhD Student

Urban ecology Biodiversity and ecosystem services Socio-ecological systems Citizen science Education for sustainable development

Raquel C. Mendes has a MSc in Conservation Biology (Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon) and, in2020, started the FCUL PhD Programme in Biology, within the Socio-Ecological Research sub-group and Conservation in Socio-Ecological Ecosystems group of cE3c. This research main aim is to investigate the social-ecological factors that promote the connection with nature in younger generations, contributing to an education that supports the sustainability strategy in Lisbon schools. This thesis is supervised by Professor Margarida Santos-Reis (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon - Lisbon, Portugal) and Professor Martin Scheuch (University College for Agricultural and Environmental Education - Vienna, Austria).

Previously, since 2013, she has developed research in other Urban Ecology fields: Road Ecology (to access vertebrate roadkill in urban and sub-urban areas and propose mitigation measures) and Ecosystem Restoration(to evaluate faunal communities response to the ecological restoration of a coastal dune system in São João da Caparica), both in several projects from the Almada Municipality; and, Soil Ecology (to study invertebrates as bioindicators of soil condition and ecosystem services in urban parks of Lisbon) within the project GREEN SURGE.