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Dr Özgün Emre Can Accepts Faculty Position at Ankara University

It is amongst our greatest pleasures, writes David Macdonald, when a WildCRU alumnus achieves success, so I am delighted to report that Dr Ozgun Emre Can has accepted a faculty position at Turkey’s most established Zoology Section at the Biology Department at Ankara University.

Emre tells us “The university has several beautiful campuses located in the heart of Ankara, and I am located at biologically diverse central campus (hosts 81 macrofungal species, 24 lichenized fungi species, 28 moss species, 151 tree and shrub species, 30 invertebrate animal species; 66 bird, 1 amphibian, 2 reptile and 6 mammal species).

After 8+ years at WildCRU, I am re-starting the field-based carnivore research I started some 20 years ago in Turkey (I completed the first field based research on wolf (2000), brown bear (2004) and wildcat (2011) in Turkey, and documented the presence of Caucasian leopards (2009) and striped hyaenas (2001)). My efforts were instrumental in the removal of the “pest species” status of wolves, and listing striped hyaena and leopard as fully protected species, in establishment of two protected areas in Turkey (1999-2004), and in modernising wildlife management and conservation legislation in Turkey).

My new lab (CCL – Can Carnivore Lab) is Turkey’s first research lab solely dedicated to large carnivore research with the aim of achieving practical science-based solutions to conservation problems (modelled after the WildCRU’s mission statement). I will continue my WildCRU collaboration on the ecology of clouded leopards and leopards in the Himalayas, and begin research on human-wolf interactions in Turkey and in Central Asian societies. I am also acting as the scientific advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on leopard research and conservation in Turkey and helping the national wildlife authority in their efforts in bringing back the Anatolian leopard from the verge of extinction”.