Luis Mata

I'm an ecologist with a keen interest in insects, conservation science, urban biodiversity, citizen science, quantitative methods and nature photography. I am fascinated by insects because I believe that, whether as individuals or aggregated into super-organisms, they are interesting, valuable and aesthetically pleasing life forms.

I'm particularly interested in exploring how to bring nature back into cities, and in developing decision-making tools to evaluate which species would be best suited to bring back. I'm also keen to raise awareness of the importance of beneficial insects in urban environments. To this purpose, my colleagues and I are exploring the idea of 'Pollinator Observatories', in which plant-insect pollinator interactions are recorded by both academic and citizen scientists. I'm also involved in developing a photo-preference survey to identify charismatic animal species through an online Public Elicitation Platform: https://publicelicitation.org/