01 Understanding complex systems +

I study how patterns emerge and change over time in large behavioural datasets. My research has analysed nearly a million bird vocalisations recorded across generations in Wytham Woods, revealing how structure appears and persists in cultural systems.

02 Data analysis & visualisation +

I help organisations understand complex data. From messy raw datasets to clear insight, I design analyses and visualisations that reveal structure, highlight patterns, and communicate results in ways that are both rigorous and intuitive.

03 Machine learning & computational methods +

I build custom analytical tools when existing methods are not enough. My work combines machine learning, signal analysis, and statistical modelling to extract meaningful patterns from large and noisy datasets.

04 Visual communication +

Clear insight deserves clear presentation. I combine analytical work with strong visual design to produce figures, maps, and visual systems that make complex results understandable to researchers, decision-makers, and the public.

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Visual Work
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Design and development

Interactive data exploration interface

Consultancy work for the citizen science project BirdNET at Cornell University. This interactive system was developed for a visitor centre, allowing the public to explore both real-time and historical patterns in biodiversity data. The interface was designed to make large acoustic monitoring datasets accessible and intuitive.

data visualization Real-time data dashboard
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Second unit director and cinematographer

Second unit direction and cinematography

Between 2011 and 2016, I worked in documentary film production as a cinematographer and second unit director. This sequence, shot in Belarus, opens the trailer for Awaken, which screened in Times Square, New York. Over those years I led small international units across three continents, capturing large-format landscape and nature footage in often demanding conditions.

cinematography Trailer premiere in Times Square
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Designer and developer

Digital data design

I analyze and visualize complex data—from physical artifacts to large-scale statistical trends—to extract key insights and create compelling narratives for both experts and the public. This example shows a stone tool from the African Early Stone Age.

Item at the Fish Hoek Valley Museum · Scanned by Global Digital Heritage · CC BY-NC 4.0

digital heritage Making data accessible and engaging
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Design and development

Canopy viewer

I built a machine learning pipeline to detect and map individual tree species from aerial photography — then turned the results into an interactive browser tool anyone can explore. Users can slide between raw imagery and segmentation overlays, and inspect species-specific data in real time. Part of a UKRI-funded project at the University of Oxford.

Interactive From aerial imagery to interactive mapping
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Researcher

Scientific research

I hold a PhD in Biology from the University of Oxford, where I went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher and remain a visiting researcher. My research on ecology, bioacoustics, and cultural evolution has been published in journals including Current Biology and Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and covered by international media.

Research Biology & computational science
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Senior Conservation Scientist

Big Garden Birdwatch

As a Senior Conservation Scientist at the RSPB, I work on the Big Garden Birdwatch — one of the world’s largest citizen science projects, engaging half a million participants each year. I develop statistical methods and data pipelines to turn millions of public observations into meaningful trends, helping to track how common garden birds are faring across the UK.

Conservation science Monitoring biodiversity at scale
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I’m a scientist, developer, and designer. My work sits between research, computation, and visual communication. I have been a researcher at Oxford and Senior Conservation Scientist at Europe’s largest nature conservation charity. Earlier in my career I worked in film, shooting projects around the world. Today I design analytical tools and visualizations that help researchers and organisations understand complex data and communicate it clearly. I run sedum.studio, a small studio at the intersection of data science and design.

Get in touch

nilo.recalde@biology.ox.ac.uk

Available for consulting, research collaborations, and visualisation projects.

© 2026 Nilo Merino Recalde