I am currently a fourth year MBiol student at the University of Oxford, completing a project with WildCRU being supervised by Professor Robert Montgomery. My project is focussed on assessing the different types and flows of benefits that local communities gain from living in areas bordering protected areas- specifically focused on Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. The support and involvement of local communities in conservation is often one of the most important determinants of successful conservation and therefore understanding perceptions of benefits is very important.

Aside from this, I am particularly interested in global environmental policy and the role of different organisations and agendas in pushing for a nature positive future. In my spare time, I volunteer as a blog editor for Conservation Optimism (a conservation organisation which aims to focus on highlighting the success stories in conservation and move away from the ‘doom and gloom’ narrative) for which I produce the weekly 7 stories of optimism (https://conservationoptimism.org/our-blog/). And work as a Learning Officer for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. I’m also the projects co-ordinator for Oxford Nature Conservation Society where we run a variety of talks, workshops and campaigns for students, staff and residents in Oxford to get involved in.