I am a current DPhil Biology student at WildCRU, and supervised by Dr Paul Johnson (WildCRU), Dr Stephanie Brittain (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent) and Lessah Mandoloma (University of Malawi). My research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of wildlife stewardship programmes in lion conservation. Collaborating with WildCRU’s Long Shields Guardian Programme, we use participatory methods to co-define and measure programme success in terms of societal and conservation outcomes, while also exploring the impact of environmental change (caused by climate change and anthropogenic impact) on programme longevity and resilience.

Prior to starting at Oxford, I completed my BSc (Hons) in Zoology at Anglia Ruskin University. My dissertation focussed on the Conservancy effect seen in African lions at Naboisho Conservancy, Kenya. This work was awarded the Royal Society of Biology Prize for Best Project, and Best BSc Zoology Project. This project provoked my interest in human-wildlife coexistence and morally contentious conservation issues.

As a result of these new-found interests, I then completed a UNIQ+ internship with WildCRU, conducting a situational analysis on trophy hunting under the supervision of Prof. Amy Dickman, and Prof. Dilys Roe as part of the IUCN’s Sustainable Livelihood Group. This work also helped inform the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill debated in the House of Lords in 2023.

In 2023 I began my MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the University of Oxford where I took electives in Remote Sensing and Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence. Collaborating with WildCRU’s Lion Landscapes, my dissertation explored various ecogeographical, household, and boma-level predictors on rates of livestock depredation in the village lands surrounding Ruaha National Park, Tanzania. This work laid the foundation for strengthening my interdisciplinarity as a conservationist, which I now continue to develop through my DPhil.