My Profile

I work on increasing the use of the Conservation Evidence project by conservation practitioners. This involves communication about the benefits of evidence based conservation, promotion of the Conservation Evidence database, and the provision of academic support for practitioners who want to test conservation interventions that can add to the Conservation Evidence project. I work closely with NGOs who want to increase their use of evidence in decision making, and improve their impact evaluation and publication of conservation interventions. Most recently I was a contributing author on the PRISM toolkit for evaluating the outcomes and impacts 
of small/medium-sized conservation projects. My 2017 paper 'Evidence complacency hampers conservation' was used by Lord John Krebs to ask the UK government to ensure the the government's 25 year environment plan would be evidence based. Prior to this I worked for the RSPB, looking at the evidence base for management options for seabirds in marine protected areas. I did my PhD at the University of Leeds under the supervision of Professor John Altringham. I worked in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Foundation(www.ncf-india.org/), and focused on changes in bat species composition and functional diversity between different plantation types, forest fragments and riparian corridors in the Western Ghats of India. I  have done extensive public outreach in the UK and India, mostly focused around bats, including talks in schools, newspaper series, poster exhibitions and science outreach events.