My academic purpose aims to construct a bridge between nature and finance. A flexible bridge, that allows private markets to contribute towards nature recovery in a meaningful and scalable way.

I look at using various financial instruments to finance and derive revenue from nature. This means I work with loan, equity, bond and crediting-based financial instruments. Not only do I assess additional conservation or restoration outcomes delivered, but conditions required for investment. Assessing both sides of the coin is challenging, but essential. If products do not work for people and nature in the ground, they won’t deliver the outcomes that private markets require.

The expertise I bring are inherently interdisciplinary. I have an MSc degree in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Exeter, and a BSc degree in Management and Finance from the University of York. Prior to my DPhil, I spent time working in Investment Management for Goldman Sachs and Management Consulting for North Highland.

Expedition and conservation experiences have shaped my research motivation. A passion for conserving venomous snakes led to extensive travel and exploration across the tropics, where I witnessed first-hand the anthropogenic pressures on wildlife and the urgent need for people to benefit meaningfully from conservation. These experiences inspired me to undertake my DPhil with WildCRU and utilise my interdisciplinary background for the purposes of broader human-wildlife coexistence.

I am really excited to join WildCRU in October this 2023, supported by Oxford University’s EPSRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership. I am also affiliated to Oxford’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science and Nature Positive Hub.

In addition to my DPhil, I also hold an Associate position at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC), term membership at the Explorers Club, Fellow at the Royal Geographic Society and Co-Director of Research position at the Thousand Year Trust on Cabilla Manor, Cornwall.