Joana Roque de Pinho (PhD, Colorado State University, 2009), is an ecologist and environmental anthropologist affiliated with the Centre for International Studies (CEI) at the Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE-IUL) in Lisbon, Portugal. Working at the intersection of political ecology and environmental history, her research has focused on the lived experiences and understandings of social-ecological changes and climatic variability among West and East African rural communities living in landscapes shaped by biodiversity conservation policy (Guinea-Bissau, Kenya). With a strong focus on pastoralism, she is particularly dedicated to engaging local land users as collaborative researchers, employing participatory (visual) methodologies to co-produce transdisciplinary outputs that engage both academic and general audiences. Currently, as the PI of the FC-funded Mystical Natures project, she examines the overlooked religious dimensions of environmental transformations occurring in drylands of Mongolia, Kenya, and Mozambique (https://myna-project.cei.iscte-iul.pt/), exploring the role of religious actors and institutions in processes of land changes and local responses to environmental instability. Additionally, Joana co-founded and co-leads the COVID-19 in Drylands working group. Comprising both academics at all career stages and non-academically trained dryland residents, the group documents and analyzes local responses to COVID-19 lockdown measures, and the legacies thereof, in fifteen dryland countries (https://converge.colorado.edu/working-groups/covid-19-in-african-asian-and-north-american-drylands/). She is a member of the direction and scientific commission of ISCTE's Center for International Studies (CEI-Iscte).