Thirza Loffeld (She/Her)

I have been in wildlife conservation for 20 years, I have worked with Kenya Wildlife Service before joining Born Free Foundation as Education Project officer, currently I am serving as community engagement officer.

I am an environmental educator and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oulu (Finland), specializing in ecojustice education, human-wildlife coexistence, multispecies governance, and transformative approaches to biodiversity education. My work bridges education, animal law, and environmental diplomacy, with a focus on the legal, pedagogical, and cultural shifts needed to foster peaceable coexistence between humans and other species. I work on reimagining multilateral governance by integrating Rights of Nature frameworks into diplomacy simulations, including Model United Nations frameworks, co-designed participatorily with teachers, students, researchers and rangers. I have extensive experience building meaningful and sustainable international cross-sectoral partnerships and currently co-lead the multispecies education work package in the MUST: Enabling Multispecies Transitions in Cities and Regions research project and serve as Principal Investigator and Co-lead of an International Strategic Partnership with the University of Namibia, focusing on human-animal coexistence in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA). I also lead the development of an online biodiversity education course as part of the UniPID GLOBUS (Virtual Studies for Global Sustainable Development in Southern African Collaboration).  I co-coordinates teacher education on multispecies environmental education and have led diverse international research initiatives, including in Portugal, Finland, and Namibia.  I am also Founder and Director of Wilberhouse, an environmental education organization rooted in multicultural storytelling and community engagement.

Early-career conservationist, passionate about working for people and wildlife 🌍💚 Key interests: wildlife trade and human-wildlife conflict 🐘 MSc Conservation | Ba (Hons) Economics 🎓

Environmental professional passionate about wildlife, with a background in ecosystem and wildlife management, project management, and knowledge dissemination. I have experience working in international and intergovernmental settings with an environmental focus, as well as supporting conservation projects through fieldwork, including biomonitoring activities.

Simon Goodman is based at the School of Biology, University of Leeds, and works at the interface between ecological/evolutionary genomics, disease ecology and conservation biology. He is particularly interested in marine mammal genomics and conservation, use of novel technology such as eDNA to support biodiversity monitorting, and disease impacts on endangered species. He is a member of the IUCN Pinniped Specialist Group.