Liz Sousa Ota

Dr. Liz Sousa Ota is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC), specializing in small-scale and community forestry, forest restoration, and sustainable livelihoods. She leads the Project Tarsier Team for Social Engagement and serves as the Sunshine Coast Project Lead for Carbon Modelling, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Her research focuses on integrating ecological and socioeconomic goals in tropical forest restoration, with extensive fieldwork in Brazil, the Philippines, and Vanuatu.

Dr. Ota holds a PhD in Forestry from UniSC (2018), where her thesis explored socioeconomic and financial outcomes of smallholder reforestation in the tropics. She has coordinated ACIAR-funded projects since 2014, addressing governance challenges and livelihood support for communities in Philippine restoration initiatives. Her work in Vanuatu aimed to enhance returns from agroforestry for smallholders.

Her research themes include community-based forest management, policy design for sustainable practices, and Indigenous participation in extractives governance. Key contributions include meta-analyses on smallholder reforestation impacts, frameworks for FLR in agricultural landscapes, and bibliometric studies on assisted natural regeneration.

Dr. Ota’s publications span topics like Indigenous rights in certification programs, adaptive management strategies, and inclusive value chains for forest products. She actively engages in interdisciplinary collaborations, bridging ecological and socioeconomic dimensions of restoration.