Research Theme Fellow: Environment & Sustainability

Dr Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez

Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
m.esperon-rodriguez@westernsydney.edu.au

Manuel was awarded a Research Theme Fellowship in Environment and Sustainability in 2023. He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His project assessed vulnerability of Mexican cloud forests to climate change. His research mainly focused on plant ecophysiological responses to climate change impacts. Manuel moved to Australia in 2015 and joined Western Sydney University in 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and then gained a fellowship in the University’s Research Support Program, focusing on Urban Transformation and Climate Change.

Manuel is interested in species responses to climatic and environmental changes, and his current areas of research mainly focus on urban ecology, landscape ecology, vulnerability and climate change. The main goals of his current work are to assess the factors that contribute to the success or failure of urban plantings and the additional benefits that urban greening brings to cities, such as greater biodiversity, cleaner air and cooler temperatures and associated benefits to human health and well-being.