My name’s Chanratana Pin. I grew up in Mondulkiri province located in the far eastern of Cambodia. I am currently a government official working at the Ministry of Environment, Cambodia. I hold a MSc in Conservation Ecology from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand and a BSc in Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine from Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia.

I started working in wildlife conservation in December 2009. My first job was a dog handler; I was trained to take part in a study using specialized Scat Detection dogs to search for big cat scat including tiger and leopard in the dry forest of the Eastern Plains Landscape, Cambodia. For the past ten years I have been working on a number of wildlife research and monitoring projects including camera trapping and line transect surveys. In addition, I also have been involved with many other wildlife surveys including the Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis population census, plus Asiatic Jackal collaring and radio telemetry. Overall, I am very much enjoy being involved with camera trap surveys due to the data that can be gained from this methodology.

It has been a long journey to become a postgraduate diploma student as I first heard about WildCRU in 2013. But at that time, I was not ready due to a lack of fieldwork experience. Now I am thrilled to be part of the great educational network that is Oxford University. I am hoping to improve my knowledge, skill and technique focusing on wildlife research and conservation. After finishing this course and I will return to my home country, share this experience and knowledge to my fellow young Cambodian researchers, and contribute to the conservation in Cambodia.