2015

I was born in Iran and did my bachelors degree in Zoology at Shahid Beheshti University (2006-2010). I studied Animal Ecology towards a masters degree at Lund University (2011-2013) and my thesis was to evaluate the efficiency of the conservation interventions currently applied for the endangered Asian wild ass, using species distribution models.

Then, I joined Grimsö Wildlife Research Station in Sweden (2014) to keep track of carnivore conservation research worldwide and illustrate caveats in a broader picture. In a second research project, we verified interventions implied so far in a quantitative manner to pick the most effective methodologies for reducing livestock predation by large carnivores.

The Diploma provides an interdisciplinary conservation education that integrates theoretical understandings of ecology and experimentation with practical aspects of applying research. Likewise, it opens new challenges in my lifelong career of wildlife research in which I will focus on carnivores through problem-solving and practical approaches.

Update September 2019

Mahdieh is a 3rd year PhD student at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She is happy to still be researching large carnivore monitoring, and commented that the Diploma was definitely a great learning experience for her!