Whether in respect of ecosystem and biodiversity loss or climate change, the human dimension in nature conservation has often been characterised as one of unremitting threat. By contributing to a sense of ‘eco-phobia’, this narrative can reinforce the disengagement of people from nature. Working with indigenous people, conservationists often find a different narrative. Since 2007 (UNEP) Biodiversity has been understood to include human cultural diversity reflected in linguistic diversity, which across countries correlates with the diversity of bird and mammal species, and is similarly threatened by globalization. Partnered with BirdLife International, the student will work as part of the EWA1 group working across five continents, using ecological and ethnobiological (e.g. social survey and interview) methods, whose research is re-framing the cultural narrative of conservation, contributing to protecting local diversity in a globally connected world.
Position: Associate Professor in Applied Ethnobiology and Conservation
Fellow in Human Sciences, Mansfield College
Qualifications: B.Sc. (Wales) M.Sc. (Reading) D.Phil. (Oxon) Dip.TMM (Durham), FRSB.
Teaching (lecturing and tutoring) undergraduates since 1998, Graduate students since 1987 (M.Sc. and D.Phil.) Director of Studies (Human Sciences) Mansfield College since 2008.
