Hamish Stewart is an MSc Biodiversity Conservation and Nature Recovery student at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. He is conducting his master’s Research Project with WildCRU (Biology Department, University of Oxford). Hamish’s research explores the standardisation of African protected area management by transnational conservation NGOs, aiming to bridge our understanding of management across site-level operations, organisation-wide systems, and international frameworks. This work will provide practice-oriented insights to improve the management of protected areas through planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning processes, particularly within the context of portfolio-scale initiatives like the Africa Keystone Protected Areas Partnership and the SMART-EarthRanger Conservation Alliance.

Originally from Australia, Hamish holds bachelor’s degrees in both Science and Politics, Philosophy & Economics from the Australian National University, where he majored in Environmental Science, Biodiversity Conservation and Advanced Game Theory.

Hamish’s conservation experience includes three years as a senior member of the Education Team at the National Zoo and Aquarium and fourteen months’ community-based conservation work across southern Africa supporting wildlife monitoring, ecological research, protected area operations, animal husbandry, community engagement and conservation education. He has also completed a consultancy review of education materials and programmes for Tusk Trust.

Prior to commencing his master’s degree, Hamish worked in professional services as a sustainability consultant, focusing on analytical and stakeholder-driven biodiversity and natural capital projects, climate risk and scenario analyses, ESG policy development, and sustainability reporting and assurance.

Hamish’s master’s degree is supported by the generosity of the General Sir John Monash Foundation.