Pedro Prata

Team leader 

Rewilding Portugal

Pedro Prata was born in 1982 and grew up in a family farm in the central mountains of Portugal. Since childhood, he has been wandering through the grassland plateaus, venturing into the thick forests or simply sunbathing in the deep canyons of the rivers. It made him realise that there is a complex web of relations which wild nature so fruitfully shows in its many different aspects. He is passionate for nature in all its extent and a lover of outdoor sports. Pursuing this curiosity led him to an MSC in biology in the University of Lisbon, where he mostly researched the interactions between plants and fungi.

Starting an international career in 2005, he did an MSc in ecology and evolution at the Universiteit van Amsterdam which led to his research on coral reef recovery after storm damage in Curaçao, in the Caribbean. Until 2010, he lived and was involved in different projects in Brazil and the United States, and finally came back to Europe. Near his hometown there was an organisation called ATN that represented the rewilding initiative with an innovative project in Faia Brava. Convinced that this was a plausible strategy to deal with the high levels of land abandonment that raged for decades in the country’s interior, he is now taking responsibility to develop this project in a wider area, to cover the whole Côa river basin that stretches as a natural wildlife corridor and that must be carefully managed so that it can bloom in diversity, using the rewilding strategy as the model to achieve these goals.

Marta Cálix

Project Manager of Rewilding Portugal

Marta Cálix was born in 1991 in Lisbon and has been interested in nature (and birds in particular) from a young age. Having studied evolutionary and developmental biology at the University of Lisbon, Marta decided to pursue an MSc in Wildlife Management and Conservation at the University of Reading in the UK. As a keen birdwatcher and ornithologist Marta has participated in several expeditions with Operation Wallacea, studying the avifauna of Guyana and Honduras, and teaching volunteers and students about the importance of long-term biodiversity monitoring schemes.

Her passion for the conservation of biodiversity led her to work at the IUCN European Regional Office in Brussels, where she participated in the compilation of several European Red Lists of Threatened Species. While at IUCN, Marta became increasingly interested in the linkages between business and biodiversity conservation, especially the potential for sustainable business models to support conservation work. This new interest led her to pursue an MBA at IE Business School in Madrid. As a result, Marta became interested in the rewilding movement in Europe, which is pioneering nature-based enterprises as part of large-scale rewilding initiatives and recently started working for Rewilding Portugal as a project manager.

Sara Aliácar

Conservation Officer of Rewilding Portugal

Sara Casado Aliácar was born in 1989 in Alcalá de Henares, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Spain. Passionate about living things and with the firm conviction of contributing to a better world for humans and nature, Sara decided to study a Bachelor and MSc in Environmental Sciences in her hometown. During her studies she had the opportunity of participating in projects focused on habitat restoration, environmental education and cooperation in Spain and Nicaragua, where she developed an increasing interest in nature conservation and biodiversity. She dived deeper into that path through a course in forest ecology in the University of Umeå in 2012 and an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation in the University of Leeds in 2016.

In 2013 and 2014 she worked as a wolf monitoring technician in the LIFE MEDWOLF conservation project in Portugal. With this experience, she developed an increasing interest in carnivores, human-wildlife coexistence, animal welfare and rewilding. She also felt fascinated by the Côa Valley and rural life, so naturally she got involved with the local NGO ATNatureza in 2016, where she worked for two years as Rewilding Officer and Project Manager of LIFE Landowners Club for the Conservation of Western Iberia in the private protected area of Faia Brava.

In 2019, she entered the team of Rewilding Portugal enthusiastic about the opportunity to continue working in the Côa Valley and at a broader scale, based on a rewilding strategy.

Kayte Phillips

Finance Officer of Rewilding Portugal

Kayte Phillips was born in 1974 in Shropshire, England and then moved to Wales in 1999, where she raised her children and learned to speak Welsh.

With a background in finance and management, Kayte is a qualified accountant and ran a small accountancy practice spending many years working within the voluntary arts sector in Mid Wales.

Kayte has recently relocated to Central Portugal to pursue her passion for music, language and permaculture, and brings over 15 years of financial management experience to the rewilding Portugal team.

Fernando Teixeira

Communication Officer of Rewilding Portugal

Fernando Teixeira is 24 years old and was born in Fundão, and therefore knows quite well the Western Iberia region. He began his career as a journalist at a very young age, and still retains these duties, including the professional card.

He recently completed his law degree at the Faculty of Law of the Universidade do Porto, and is now a Master’s student in Management at UBI.

He has experience in several local and reference journals, having previously been director of a university newspaper and published two books of his own.

His dynamic and proactive attitude towards the media will be his focus as a Communication Officer.

André Couto

Field Officer of Rewilding Portugal

André Couto was born in 1990 in the center of Portugal, where he grew up exploring some of the oldest protected areas in the country, and helping with the traditional farming practiced by his family. Years later, his interest in zoology led to a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Applied Ecology at the University of Aveiro. During his studies, his passion for amphibians and reptiles took him to places like the brazilian Amazon or the mayan jungle of Calakmul. The contact with these truly wild and diverse places fueled his will to work in nature conservation and contribute to the restoration of natural landscapes in Europe.

In 2015, back in Portugal for his master’s thesis, he had the opportunity to live and work in Montesinho Natural Park, experiencing one of the most complete ecosystems in the country, with wolves and large herbivores, which evidenced the importance of natural processes and rewilding in creating opportunities for the environment and people. Between 2016 and 2018 he applied this philosophy as a conservation officer for the municipality of Lousada, in northwestern Portugal, where he worked with several groups of vertebrates, managing priority habitats for threathened species and collaborating in the creation of local protected areas.

André happily joined the Rewilding Portugal team in 2019, hoping to contribute to a wilder future in the Côa Valley and a better coexistence between man and nature.

Daniel Veríssimo

Entrepreneurship Officer of Rewilding Portugal

Deli Saavedra

From Rewilding Europe

Rewilding Area Coordinator

Laurien Holtjer

From Rewilding Europe

Head of Communications

Ana Lino

Molecular Biologist

Ana Lino is a biologist and her main research interests are related to molecular ecology and population genetics of mammals for the monitoring, management, and conservation of their populations. During her PhD Ana tried to understand how forest loss and fragmentation affect different dimensions of diversity (taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, and genetic) using the neotropical bats as a model group. Currently, Ana is a research fellow at the University of Aveiro and the main objective of her work is the genetic characterization and monitoring of Iberian carnivores. Her role in the LIFE WolFlux project is to contribute to the monitoring of the Iberian wolf south of the Douro river using molecular techniques.

Carlos Fonseca

Biologist/Team Leader

Carlos Fonseca, biologist, is currently Chief Technology Officer of the ForestWISE – Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest & Fire Management and Invited Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Department of Biology of the University of Aveiro. He is interested in scientific topics related to the management and conservation of wildlife and natural resources. He is coordinator of the Wildlife Research Unit of the Department of Biology at the University of Aveiro, developing research work in Portugal and other European countries as well as in Brazil, Mozambique, Paraguay, Cape Verde, Bolivia, etc. In the LIFE WolFlux project, Carlos Fonseca is the coordinator of the University of Aveiro team.

Eduardo Ferreira

Molecular Biologist

Eduardo Ferreira is an ecologist with a major focus on wildlife and biodiversity conservation and management. Eduardo has a vast experience on the use of molecular genetic tools for the study of wildlife species, namely in the non-invasive monitoring of mammalian carnivore species. Besides mammals, amphibians and reptiles are relevant targets of his research, aiming to understand the impact of human activities on biodiversity. He is also interested in outreach and awareness raising strategies and is currently a researcher at the University of Aveiro. In the LIFE WolFlux project, Eduardo is mostly focused on wolf monitoring through non-invasive sampling methods, at the early and late stages of the project.

Joana Fernandes

Molecular Biologist

Joana Fernandes is a biologist focused on wildlife and human coexistence as a key factor in wildlife and biodiversity conservation and management. In recent years, she has deepened her knowledge of molecular genetic tools, namely in non-invasive monitoring of mammalian carnivore and ungulate species and is currently a research fellow at the University of Aveiro. Besides mammals, Joana is interested in amphibians and reptiles, and a particular interest in understanding the challenges and impacts human activities pose for biodiversity. In the LIFE WolFlux project, Joana has an active role in wolf monitoring through non-invasive sampling methods.

João Carvalho

Biologist

João Carvalho, biologist, has a wide variety of research interests that include the dynamics of ecosystems and populations, the spatial and phenotypic response of species and populations to global changes and the management and conservation of natural resources. Geographical information systems and statistics have been used by João as a complementary and important research tool. He recognizes the increasing importance of citizen science in biodiversity conservation. In the LIFE WolFlux project, João plays an active role in some tasks, namely, in determining the distribution and density of wild ungulate populations throughout the study area.

Mariana Rossa

Biologist

Mariana Rossa is a biologist and has a particular interest in ecosystem and populations dynamics with focus on the conservation and management of wildlife. Mariana considers the study of animal behaviour essential to the understanding of intra- and interspecific relationships that characterize a trophic web. Mariana has experience in monitoring wolves, their wild prey and behavioural and ecological relationships. Her contribution to the LIFE WolFlux project includes the assessment of the distribution and density of wild ungulates and the study of the feeding ecology of the Iberian wolf in the project area.

Raquel Martins

Biologist

Raquel Martins is a biologist with a particular interest in the management and conservation of large carnivores in humanized landscapes. In the past few years, Raquel has been focusing on Human-Wildlife interactions and human tolerance towards large carnivores as a way of improving coexistence between humans and wildlife. On the LIFE WolFlux project, Raquel’s work consists in assessing the distribution and density estimation of wild ungulate, wolves’ natural prey, south of Douro river.

Rita T. Torres

Biologist

Rita T. Torres, biologist and researcher at the University of Aveiro, uses space ecology to understand how species respond to global changes and their dynamics at ecosystem level. She is particularly interested in the biology of reintroductions and how they can be used as tools for restoring ecosystem functions and processes. In recent years, she has been trying to understand the role of wild ungulates as role models for unraveling the main challenges of infectious diseases. In the LIFE WolFlux project, her role is mainly related to the tasks aimed at increasing the availability of wild prey for the Iberian wolf. Namely in determining the distribution and density of wild ungulates in the project area, and subsequently in the reintroduction of roe deer.