Daisy Johnston is a MBiol student who will be completing her master’s project exploring the perspectives of locals, tourists and conservation practitioners towards rhino anti-poaching strategies in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Namibia acts as a global stronghold for rhinos, and they were the primary target for poachers in 2024. Consequently, effective anti-poaching strategies are essential. However, methods like militarisation are highly controversial, and bring financial and social costs. This project aims to explore the trade-off between costs and conservation benefits, and the impact this can have on the social acceptability of rhino anti-poaching strategies. Ultimately, this may influence the direction of funding. Daisy is supervised by Dr Darragh Hare and will be working with the Morally Contested Conservation team to complete this research.

Daisy grew up in Bangor, a coastal town in Northern Ireland, and as a result has spent much of her time observing birds and invertebrates. She carries her love of wildlife forward by volunteering with National Museums NI and the Museum of Natural History in Oxford. She has completed fieldwork studying tropical fungi in Borneo, and large mammals and human-wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe. She has furthered her research skills working in journalism and consultancy.