Nathali Machado de Lima is an accomplished investigator with over ten years of experience in environmental microbiology. She has worked in three different countries, including Brazil, the USA, and Australia, and her research focuses on identifying and selecting microbes, exploring their resilience to extreme conditions, and their applications as sustainable alternatives in environmental conservation and restoration initiatives, as well as in industry and agriculture sectors. In addition, Nathali explores the potential of microorganisms as plant bioinoculants to improve soil fertility and structure, boost plant germination and growth rates in dryland systems and degraded areas, and ultimately restore degraded environments. Her research findings have been published in several papers, some of which were the first available publications on the composition, abundance, and environmental variables driving cyanobacterial biocrust communities in Brazil's important biomes. Since completing her PhD in 2020, Nathali has been continuously employed at UNSW, working on several projects.