My background is mainly in species conservation, education and capacity development. I researched mother-young interactions in gorillas and chimpanzees, in captivity and the wild. After that, I worked for three years in Indonesia, where I developed and implemented youth ambassador and community engagement programmes on local and regional scales. I work as Community Manager at WildHub since 2020, and I am an Associate Member of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent where I obtained my PhD on capacity development for conservation in 2022.
Founder and Chair of Clean Coast Outer Hebrides, we do so much more than beach cleans! We campaign and educate, inform and inspire about marine environment issues including Climate Change.
I live near one of the best places in Europe to see the widest range of whales and dolphins from land, I am a Shorewatcher for Whale and Dolphin Conservation WDC, have trained for British Divers Marine Life Rescue BDMLR, a volunteer with the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, am a licensed drone pilot, and go wild swimming.
I occasionally earn a crust by wildlife illustration and have illustrated for the RSPB and SNH (or whatever they call themselves these days) and am so successful as a public speaker that people have paid to hear me talk - I'd have thought that they would pay to shut me up!
I run our fundraising scheme and outreach project, Adopt a Dolphin for children and young people. We visit schools and groups with materials that I have developed and I am currently creating our very first ecourse. Whilst running the scheme, I wrote a children's book, The Magic Dolphin and a subsequent colouring-in story book, Dolphin Doodling, both of which are used within schools.
Every month I produce an 8-10 page newsletter, Newsplash which is full of educational content, competitions, national and international marine news, fun features and more.
Hi, I am Laura and I currently work as a Campaigns Officer for Keep Scotland Beautiful. I have been working/volunteering in conservation for about ten years now but since graduating with my master’s in Wildlife Biology and Conservation in 2015 I have focused my work within the marine sector. I have got to wear many hats over the years including environmental advisor, scientific researchers, fundraiser, community engagement officer and now campaigns.
I lead the marine mammal monitoring programme for HWDT, where we collect vital data on the whales, dolphins and porpoises on the west coast of Scotland. This winter I will be managing a new acoustic monitoring project.
I have previously conducted research on killer whale populations in Canada, guided on board a wildlife-watching vessel in Kaikoura, New Zealand, and worked in a necropsy laboratory in America.
I completed an MRes in Applied Marine Science from the University of Plymouth, where I identified England's only resident population of bottlenose dolphins.
Alec Christie
Postdoctoral research associate, University of Cambridge, BioRISC (Biosecurity Research Initiative at St Catherine's)
Background: I studied at the University of St Andrews for my BSc Hons in Marine Biology from 2013-2017. During my time I trained and helped conduct research on seals at the SMRU/SOI, cetaceans in Turkey with DMAD, and studied abroad at James Cook University, Australia, undertaking research on coral reefs with Dr Maria Dornelas and Professor Sean Connelly. I was also lucky enough to study polar ecology, including a field course to the Western Antarctic Peninsula in March 2017. I then applied for a PhD project advertised through the Cambridge ESS DTP and joined the Conservation Evidence group in the UCCRI. I completed my PhD in Zoology (Determining the biases and consistences in the evidence for conservation) in March 2021 as a member of King’s College and the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI) in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI).
I am very interested in communicating science and conservation issues to the public and particularly interested in becoming a wildlife television presenter. In my spare time I am also an amateur wildlife photographer, love getting outdoors and playing all sorts of sports when I can.
Current role: I am a Research Associate in the Department of Zoology and the Biosecurity Research Initiative at St Catherine’s (BioRISC) College. My research focuses on applying evidence-based principles from medicine to biodiversity conservation via the Conservation Evidence project. In particular, my work involves co-developing decision support tools with conservationists working to conserve species and provide them with relevant evidence-based recommendations. Currently, I am working on a project to help report tests of invasive species management interventions via an online app and promote more testing of conservation interventions.
My Name is Andrew and I am the Project Support Officer at the Sussex Dolphin Project (UK), committed to protecting local dolphin species through Research Education and Awareness to deliver ecosystem-level restoration and rejuvenation.
I'm actually coming from a wildly different angle than most - 3 Years ago, I left my job after 5 years as a Mechanical Design Engineer to realign to something more! I'd always wished for my career to work towards greater environmental impact, but I knew I couldn't do it on my current path within a reasonable timescale, so, along with the support of my partner, I left and started the next day at the Dolphin Project.
My life has always been all about animals, nature and the environment, anyone I know would tell you that. Since my first degree in Product Design and landing my first job as an engineer, I was doing everything in my power to steer my career as above. I took on a second degree, part-time distance learning, through the OU in Engineering and majored in Environmental Management which encouraged me to switch sooner than later.
I am a PADI dive instructor (though out of action) and have dived and volunteered around the world in no particular field because all of nature is just so astonishing to me. The rich diversity and intelligence of nature and it's raw capacity to survive really drives me, and the human - nature connection is what I look to re-kindle as a means for both a healthy, resilient natural system, as well as a functioning and thriving human system.
My interests are a diverse as my garden ( ; P ), everything is unique. I LOVE to be moving, Skating, Surfing, Yoga, Swimming, getting outside and letting things go with the flow. Wellbeing and understanding life is very important to me and I now have a little human to for someone to seek more wonder in life with.
Not that I've done this, but 'wicked': https://www.instagram.com/reel/CV_F-A-gFSj/?utm_medium=copy_link
Hi there! I am Sara, a PhD student currently working on sea turtle health and population assessments in Australia. My experience also includes having worked for the UNEP-CMS (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species) on cetacean and sea turtle conservation topics. I would love to specialise in wildlife conservation in the future, and am looking forward to connecting with like-minded people.
I work for Conservation Nation we are a new non-profit that relaunched in late 2021 after a long, prior history of being Friends of the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
I head up the marketing and communications along with running the grants program. Our focus is helping to make the conservation field accessible to a broader group of people and amplify those voices through our grants, education and outreach programs. My background is in program management, marketing and communications but my passion has always been in conservation and I've had the opportunity to volunteer for several conservation organizations. My two parallel paths have intersected with my role at Conservation Nation.
I am a PhD candidate at the Durrell Institute of Conseration Ecology (DICE), hosted at the University of Kent. My research focuses on how land use change influences human well-being in central Indonesia.
My background is in tropical forestry and development. Other research interests include the application of food systems thinking in forestry issues, biodiversity and food security at the forest-water interface, and the management of multifunctional landscapes across the tropics.
I am a keen advocate of strengthening international and inclusive collaborations in forest and conservation research.
I have a deep love for baking (please share with me your recipes!), basketball and peanut butter 🤩
Zoë Lieb is the project coordinator on the Field Engagement team for the Allen Coral Atlas. Coming from a conservation biology background, she was the in-country manager and primary investigator for the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project for two years, working towards culturally oriented solutions to human-wildlife conflict issues among nomadic herding communities. She has also worked as a marine observer collecting management data for Alaskan crab fisheries and other data collection positions. She received her MSc in Conservation Biology from University of Kent in the United Kingdom in 2019. Her expertise includes program development, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and community-supported conservation strategies.
As Communications Manager for the World Cetacean Alliance, I develop communications materials and deliver campaigns to support the WCA in its valuable mission to protect whales, dolphins, porpoises and their habitats.
Previously, I was a Digital Communications volunteer with WildTeam UK, and worked as a designer in the digital learning industry for several years.
I'm based in Sheffield, UK, but work remotely.