Dr Cedric Kai Wei Tan
Research Staff
I joined WildCRU in 2014 after completing my first postdoctoral research position and DPhil in Zoology at the Edward Grey Institute of Ornithology, University of Oxford. Prior to my postgraduate studies, I did my B.Sc. in Life Sciences at the National University of Singapore. My DPhil thesis focused on understanding the role of relatedness in the sexual dynamics of the red jungle fowl and the fruit fly while my first postdoctoral research examined an important but relatively unexplored mechanism of cryptic female choice: immune-mediated sperm selection, in the red jungle fowl. During the previous postdoctoral position at WildCRU, I conducted a camera trap study at Ulu Muda, Peninsular Malaysia and investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of the elusive clouded leopard.
My passion for the arts and education drives my constant pursuit of novel and exciting ways of integrating science and arts both to teach and to disseminate research work to children and other non-scientists. My current position thus entails innovative teaching and outreach in conservation and research into the effectiveness of such methods. I am developing training methods, within the Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, and directing training courses in Malaysia, Africa, and China. I am on the Editorial Board of Science Advances by AAAS and am a College Lecturer at Wadham and St Catherine’s College.
Outreach and Education
Video on the effects of game on conservation teaching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS68WOw0zsY&t=43s
Video on Saving Ulu Muda, the forest site for research on the clouded leopard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYEEa5t_Ugo
Also available in Malay language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHMlEStFL60
Malaysia workshops: http://cleanmalaysia.com/2015/12/15/oxford-professors-wild-educational-experiment-ignites-conservation-in-southeast-asia/
https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/sunday-vibes/2017/10/291264/playing-help-environment
China workshops (in Chinese): http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2017/4/372895.shtm; http://m.xtbg.cas.cn/kpbd/201706/P020170629641825049021.pdf
Media on clouded leopard work: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/08/wildcru-conserve-area-for-spotted-leopards-sake/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/08/wildcru-conserve-area-for-spotted-leopards-sake/
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/08/ulu-muda-wildlife-under-threat-poachers-from-as-far-as-laos-and-myanmar-detected-in-forest-reserve/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/08/ulu-muda-wildlife-under-threat-poachers-from-as-far-as-laos-and-myanmar-detected-in-forest-reserve/
http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/05/12/turn-ulu-muda-into-national-park/
Nominated by students for the Oxford University Student Union ‘Outstanding Tutor’ award in 2012, 2014, 2017
Video on understanding the clouded leopard habitat use in Peninsular Malaysia:
https://vimeo.com/198191339
Video on how the immune system can evade inhibition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51IY5XhdJR8&feature=youtu.be
Printable RoundTable for Sustainable Palm Oil game:
http://www.rspo.org/smallholders/rspo-smallholders-boardgame
Printable Eco-divo game:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/eco-divo-a-card-game-build-a-food-web-using-uk-species-learn-about-ecosystems-and-biodiversity-11307445
A two-part video on same-sex behaviour in animals and humans
https://vimeo.com/129345008
https://vimeo.com/131138049
Winner of Dance you PhD 2013 by Science:
http://news.sciencemag.org/scientific-community/2013/11/dance-your-ph.d.-and-winner-%E2%80%A6
Winner of Evolution 2012 Video Contest by NESCent (National Evolution Synthesis Center): https://vimeo.com/44808911
Winner of Dance your PhD 2012 (Biology category) by Science: http://vimeo.com/30211782
Report in New York Times for Nature paper: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/fruit-fly-brothers-tend-to-cooperate.html?_r=0
Report in New York Times for Proc B paper: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/science/female-fruit-flies-like-one-mate-or-his-brother.html?_r=0
Winner of the ‘Use of technology for outreach and impact’ prize given during the Oxford Teaching and Learning Enhanced by New Technology (OxTALENT) 2012 awards ceremony.
Selected Publications
Tan CKW, Lee JW, Hii A, Loo YY, Campos-Arceiz A, Macdonald DW. The effect of using games in teaching conservation. 2018. Peer J e4509.
Penjor U, Macdonald DW, Wangchuk S, Tandin T, Tan CKW. Identifying important conservation areas for the clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in a mountainous landscape: Inference from spatial modeling techniques. 2018. Ecology and Evolution 8:4278-4291.
Tan CKW, Rocha DG, Clements GR, Brenes-mora E, Hedges L, Kawanishi K, Mohamad SW, Ryan DM, Moore J, Wadey J, Campos-Arceiz A & Macdonald DW. 2017. Habitat preference and predicted range for the mainland clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Peninsular Malaysia. Biological Conservation. 206: 65-74.
Tan CKW, Doyle P, Burrell S, Bagshaw E, Wigby S, Fairfield E, Spurgin LG, Richardson DS & T Pizzari. 2017. Pre- and post- copulatory sex-specific responses to male-male relatedness in the red junglefowl. Evolution. doi:10.1111/evo.13145
Rocha D, Sollman R, Ramalho, EE, IIha R & Tan CKW. 2016. Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) density in Central Amazonia. PLoS ONE, 11: e0154624.
Tan CKW, Moore J, Saaban Salman, Campos-Arceiz A & Macdonald DW (2015) The discovery of two spotted leopards (Panthera pardus) in Peninsular Malaysia. Tropical Conservation Science.
Tan CKW, O’Dempsey T, Macdonald DW & Linkie M (2015) Managing present day large-carnivores in ‘island habitats’: lessons in memoriam learned from human-tiger interactions in Singapore. Biodiversity and Conservation
Carazo P*, Tan CKW*, Allen Felicity, Wigby S & Pizzari T (2014) Within-group male relatedness reduces harm to females in Drosophila. Nature
* Joint first author
Tan CKW, Hanne L, Greenway E, Goodwin S, Pizzari T & Wigby S (2013) Sex-specific responses to ‘direct’ and ‘phenotypic’ sexual familiarity, and the role of olfaction in Drosophila. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Tan CKW, Pizzari T & Wigby S (2013) Parental age, gametic age, and inbreeding interact to modulate offspring viability in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution.
Tan CKW, Hanne L, Pizzari T & Wigby S (2012) Little evidence for premating inbreeding avoidance in Drosophila melanogaster. Animal Behaviour.
Tan CKW & Corlett RT (2011) Scavenging of dead invertebrates along an urbanization gradient in Singapore. Insect Conservation and Diversity 5: 138-145.
Tan CKW (2009) Effects of trenching on shell size and density of intertidal shells, Turbo brunneus (gastropoda: turbinidae) and Monodonta labio (gastropoda: trochidae) at Labrador shore, Singapore. Nature in Singapore. 2: 421-429.
