Cristina Mancilla (she/her) is a conservation and community engagement professional committed to strengthening partnerships between scientists, practitioners, and communities. She currently works on the Global Science team at World Wildlife Fund, where she leads a fellowship program that advances cross-sector collaboration and evaluation research to improve how Earth science information informs real-world decision-making.
Prior to joining WWF, Cristina worked with the Long-Term Ecological Research Network to develop Public Engagement with Science strategies across research sites nationwide. Her work seeks to enhance the social relevance and long-term sustainability of environmental science by bringing local knowledge, lived experience, and scientific insight into genuine and reciprocal conversation.
Cristina has contributed to justice-centered conservation initiatives in Mexico and Central America, including co-creating a framework that centers resilience, culture, and fisher voices in aquaculture transitions in Baja California Sur. She is currently supporting research in Honduras alongside Indigenous communities navigating land, coast, and ocean dispossession.
Cristina is from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas where she grew up along the cultural landscape of the Mexico-US border. She has a Master of Environmental Science and Management degree from the University of California Santa Barbara and holds a B.A in Biology and Environmental Studies from Williams College.