I am a Moroccan wildlife biologist from a small coastal city called El Jadida. Since childhood, I was always fascinated by the beauty of nature, especially the importance of wildlife in ecosystems equilibrium. Since then, my love for animals, led me to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Biology at the University of Chouaib Doukkali, followed by a MSc in Ecology from the same university. I have also recently completed a short distance-eLearning Wildlife conservation course taught by WildCRU.

During my studies, I was involved in many projects related to the study and conservation of Moroccan birds and mammals. In my MSc’s thesis, I worked on a semi-captive population of Mhorr gazelle in Safia enclosure in the Moroccan Atlantic Sahara, with the aim to gather first data of the species social organization and rhythm of activity to determine their degree of adaptation in semi captive conditions. I joined the Atlas Golden Wolf Project, developed by WildCRU’s Liz Campbell and aims to study and conserve the African golden wolf and Atlas mountain biodiversity in Morocco. As a research assistant on her project, I was able to learn and deepen my understanding of the use of non-invasive techniques used to study wild carnivores. I had also the chance to learn about the human-wildlife conflict dimension by conducting surveys with shepherds and the general public to collect critical data on the conflict and to raise awareness and promote tolerance towards predators.

I am very pleased to be part of this amazing team. This Postgraduate diploma at WildCRU would allow me to learn about a wide variety of research topics and techniques applied to wildlife conservation. By taking this course, I’m expecting to improve my quantitative analysis, data interpretation skills and most importantly to learn about the human-wildlife conflict dimension. At the end of the course, I believe that I will be equipped with all the necessary tools I need to become a great wildlife conservationist.