Simone Athayde is a Senior Research Integrity Lead with the Research, Data and Impact Global Team at World Resources Institute. She works to help foster a culture of research excellence and ensure high-quality research across WRI that advances the organization’s mission and goals. Her role includes overseeing peer review and quality assurance processes, advising teams on research design and evidence generation, and co-leading institutional efforts to strengthen Environmental and Social Safeguards and ethical research practices across WRI’s global network.

Prior to joining WRI, Simone was an Associate Professor of Environmental Anthropology at Florida International University. She is an environmental anthropologist and interdisciplinary ecologist with expertise in inter- and transdisciplinary research, integrative science, Indigenous and local knowledge systems, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, socio-bioeconomy, and environmental justice, with a particular focus on the Amazon region. She also has extensive experience in interdisciplinary, participatory, and mixed-methods research. She is a member of the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA) and a former Fulbright Amazonia Scholar.

Simone holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Botany from the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil), an M.S. in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent (UK), and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology with concentration in Anthropology from the University of Florida (U.S.). Her work has been recognized with awards from the University of Florida, the Ministry of Culture of Brazil, and the International Society of Ethnobiology.