Shirley Famelli is a Daphne Jackson Fellow at the University of Bristol in the School of Geographical Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences.

Shirley is a biologist with experience in tropical ecology, conservation of forests and freshwater ecosystems, and the impact of landscape change on fauna biodiversity.

Completing her BSC and MSc in Biological Sciences and Applied Ecology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a PhD followed in Forest Resources at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, with a period as a Research Visitor at the University of Canberra, Australia. Shirley studied the freshwater turtle Hydromedusa maximiliani in the Carlos Botelho State Park, Southeastern Brazil. Joint data from her MSc and PhD was published in Science through a collaboration with over 100 scientists worldwide that evaluated ageing processes in ectotherm animals. 

She also worked as a Research Fellow at the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, studying Amazonian turtles in a project funded by the Brazilian Government. Keen to develop skills in remote sensing, Shirley moved to Australia where she became a research assistant at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), collaborating with the Victoria Government on an extensive reference dataset for land use and cover change, creating ‘disturbance maps’ for the Victorian State Forest in Australia.

Returning to her career after a break of four years, the title of Shirley’s project is: Amazonian rivers under change and the implications for biodiversity and local communities

Shirley’s Fellowship is sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).