Bruna Santos

I am currently a PhD student at CIBIO-InBIO, working on the importance of Natural History Collections as a fundamental research tool. I've recently concluded my Master's degree in Ecology and Environment, with a dissertation focused on the critical revision of Francisco Newton’s expedition to Angola, with special focus on the herpetological specimens. 

This opportunity allowed me to explore and foster my interest in Natural History and broadened my horizons to the importance NHCs can have in present-day biodiversity research. It enabled me to acquire hands-on experience with collection management, data archival, bibliographic research, and digitization.

My PhD project aims to assess the taxonomic, geographic, and temporal coverage of Portuguese vertebrate biodiversity extant in its NHCs, at the same time it contributes to the national digitization efforts and analyses the overall condition, richness, and utility scope of the collections.