Zuzana Buřivalová

DR. ZUZANA BUŘIVALOVÁ is a tropical forest ecologist and bioacoustics researcher working to equitably protect tropical forest biodiversity. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology, The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE). As Principal Investigator of the Sound Forest Lab, Zuzana leads a group of researchers using soundscapes - all the sounds that can be heard in a landscape - to understand the health of rainforests. Zuzana seeks to protect biodiversity in tropical forests, both forests that are used by people, for example for logging, and forests set aside for conservation, from national parks to small community-protected areas. She has worked in the tropical forests of Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, and Gabon.

Zuzana is the 2021 winner of the nature award for driving global impact and the 2023 Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Public Science Engagement Award. Her Sound Forest Lab created a free illustrated soundscape ebook for children, What Does the Rainforest Sound Like? She collaborates with the environmental news platform Mongabay on understanding which conservation strategies succeed and fail in tropical forests.