James Stevens is the Programme Officer for the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force. He has always been interested in the interactions between people and wildlife. In particular, developing an interest in understanding patterns of impacts but also what influences attitudes towards wildlife and applying this knowledge to reduce negative interactions with the stakeholders affected. He has worked on a variety of projects from investigating human access in grizzly bear habitat, to assessing the impacts of human disturbance and habitat on large vertebrates in the Brazilian Amazon. He completed his PhD at the University of Bristol in 2018, investigating human-elephant conflict in the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana, has a Masters in Applied Ecology and Conservation from the University of East Anglia and a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham.