Dr. Ana Horta has 10 years of academic teaching experience at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in Geospatial Science, including development of new subjects and courses. Her teaching expertise is the field of spatial modelling, including GIS, geostatistics and machine learning.

Ana’s teaching practices and scholarship in learning and teaching aim to influence, motivate and inspire students to learn and be job ready. She received the Charles Sturt Executive Deans Awards for Teaching and the John Harper Memorial Award in 2022, in recognition to her passion for and sustained contribution to science teaching, achieving a strong record of high student feedback.

Dr. Ana Horta’s research focus on the development, implementation, and validation of new statistical, geostatistical and machine learning modelling algorithms and methodologies for geoscience, environmental and health projects. Her research strengths stem from 12 years’ experience working with applied research projects dealing with data analytics, spatiotemporal mapping, and uncertainty assessment. Given her multidisciplinary work, Ana is involved in national and international collaborations including modelling soil properties and its influence in the soil-water balance, using drone based imagery for wildlife monitoring, modelling habitat fragmentation, and mapping access to food environments. Since finishing her PhD in 2011, Ana has published 20 peer-review papers and 5 book chapters. She has supervised and co-supervised nine Honours and two PhD students to completion.