Michelle Payne (She/Her)

Volunteer and MSc Research Student, N/A

About Michelle Payne

I am a volunteer of the one of Wildlife Trust branches' local action youth forum, and in 2023 I worked as an Education and Community Engagement Officer for one of their local nature reserves, as part of a paid internship. I love wildlife and am deeply interested in helping people connect to nature for conservation and well-being. I seek a future role in the conservation and wildlife sector, and as grant writing is a vital skill for this sector, I decided to sign up for the Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation course.

I am currently finishing my viva corrections edits for my MSc Research degree in Biological Sciences at Bangor University, where I am researching variation in the vertebral column of rhesus macaques. I love primates, my favourite being lemurs, and I hope to see them someday in Madagascar.

I also love writing and hope to publish a novel one day. My preferred writing genres are fantasy and sci-fi (with a little nature thrown in too). 

Which category below best describes the type of organisation you currently work for/or run?

Not applicable/Not currently employed

Areas of expertise

Other

Would you be willing to be approached and share your lessons learned in your area(s) of expertise with our community?

Not applicable

Would you like to be added to the calendar invitation for our monthly WildHub Socials?

Yes

Are you currently signed up for one of our WildTeam training courses? Please select "No" if you are not signed up, or choose the course you are registered for below.

6. Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation

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Let's welcome new members! Art and conservation

Recent Comments

Dec 06, 2024
Replying to Michelle Payne

Hi, if rsvping, is it necessary to attend the entire workshop (I'm from UK so the difference in timezones means it runs quite late)?

Might have just been a system glitch, when following the link on this post it said 15:00-4:30 on my side originally said that but it changed to 15:00-16:30 the next day :)

Dec 05, 2024
Replying to Michelle Payne

Hi, if rsvping, is it necessary to attend the entire workshop (I'm from UK so the difference in timezones means it runs quite late)?

Ah right, I think yesterday on the registering screen, it said it ran from 15:00 to 4:30, so thought that it meant the event ran into am over here! Has been changed now so all good 😊 

Dec 04, 2024

Hi, if rsvping, is it necessary to attend the entire workshop (I'm from UK so the difference in timezones means it runs quite late)?

Comment on Just to share
Nov 13, 2024

I do have another one to share, it had gotten lost just as I finished my contract with the Trust so it wasn't posted at the time it was written but we managed to find it and finally post it this week:

https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/spinnies-aberogwen/wellbeing-and-writing 

The event this blog article was about was a little more focused on wellbeing so that theme runs through some of the prose shared here :)

Comment on Hi, I'm Michelle
Oct 21, 2024

Dear Michelle,

Welcome to WildHub! It’s great to have you here, and congratulations on signing up for the Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation course. It sounds like a fantastic opportunity to build essential skills for your future in the wildlife and conservation sector.

Your passion for connecting people to nature and your experience with the Wildlife Trust is truly inspiring. Also, your research on rhesus macaques sounds fascinating! I’d love to hear more about your favorite part of the research process—what has been the most exciting discovery for you so far?

Feel free to share your thoughts or reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing more of your contributions to the community!

Hi,

Thank you so much - I'm really looking forward to the course and building up more of those essential skills with WildHub.

As I mentioned to Flavia, with the up and downs of project and the "let's get this done" mindset I'm currently right now, I'm not quite sure how to best to answer at this current time, I think I may have more of an answer once the project is finally over ^^' but I think I really enjoyed exploring the different literature and discovering new information about primates. I definitely would love to learn more about different research methods in the future and keep learning about primates :)

Comment on Hi, I'm Michelle
Oct 21, 2024
Replying to Flavia Manieri

Welcome Michelle, glad to have you here. I would love to hear more about your research. What was your most interesting finding while studying macaques?

Hi, thank you very much :)

My project is focused on finding numeral and morphological variation in the thoracolumbar region from a sample of rhesus macaques CT scans (so variation in the thoracic and lumbar region of the vertebral column). My project started before Covid, so there have been lots of changes, delays, and ups and downs, so I think I'm currently in a "just get it done" mindset, so I'm struggling to think of a good answer, sorry ^^'.

One of the interesting articles I did come across in my research talks about how macaques' posture when sitting means their vertebral column aligns in a similar way ours do when sitting, which could be why they develop similar spinal disorders to us despite our different locomotion styles (we are bipedal, they're more quadrupedal etc.). I did start out wanting to explore the locomotive angle a little more, so this was really fun to read about.

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