Lia Kajiki is a Brazilian biologist and behavioural ecologist who has been studying and conducting conservation work on Neotropical birds for over 15 years.
Her love for birds and understanding the surrounding nature took her to the most remote regions across Brazil, either mist-netting along the Xingu River or helping find Alagoas Antwren's (Myrmotherula snowi) nests, a bird species on the brink of extinction. She became a National Geographic Explorer after receiving a grant to fund her PhD investigating the natural history and breeding biology of the Helmeted Manakin, a charismatic bird endemic to the Cerrado.
After 12 years leading and conducting fieldwork expeditions across the Neotropics, primarily in the rainforests (the Amazon and Atlantic forests) and the Cerrado, she moved to London, where she orchestrates conservation projects and runs the Amazon Charitable Trust, a London-based NGO working with and supporting the river-dwellers of the Jauaperi River in protecting the Brazilian Amazon. She's been practising Kyudo (Japanese archery) for nearly 10 years, and loves travelling for birding.
