肯特大学招收气候科学博士
About the project
Interested in a research project combining conservation science with impact evaluation to produce high-quality, policy-relevant research and you have a degree in conservation or environmental sciences, with strong analytical skills?
Project background
Tackling the current global extinction crisis depends on training new generations of conservation professionals. It also depends on measuring the effectiveness of this training, so that organisations can monitor and adapt to increase their conservation outcomes. In the past, it was difficult to measure training effectiveness at scale, but this is changing with the development of long-term datasets and new techniques for impact evaluation. This PhD project builds on these new developments, and is a partnership between DICE at the University of Kent and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), based at Jersey Zoo.
Research methodology
DWCT is a non-profit wildlife conservation organisation and their Academy has trained and monitored over 6,000 students from 151 countries. It has also recently developed a programme to assess training in protected area management effectiveness that it has implemented in Madagascar. This provides extremely rich datasets that we can use to answer broad questions about conservation training effectiveness, as well as to inform specific aspects of DWCT’s work.
The research will focus on four aspects: (1) Developing and applying methods to measure the training impact and individual conservation effectiveness of people who have completed DWCT training programmes; (2) Understanding the barriers and enabling conditions that influence the extent to which trainees use their new skills; (3) Investigating how a trainee’s personal qualities and previous experience impacts the effectiveness of their training; (4) Developing insights on how training can be designed to improve the likelihood of improving trainees' conservation effectiveness and impact.
This studentship will test and refine these analytical approaches, collecting additional data and testing hypotheses to better understand concepts related to conservation effectiveness.
Relevant publications
Black, SA, Groombridge, JJ and Jones, CG (2011). Leadership and conservation effectiveness: finding a better way to lead. Conservation Letters, 4, 329-339.
Downey, H, et al. (2021). Training future generations to deliver evidence-based conservation and ecosystem management. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 2, e12032.
Gerrie, RM et al. (2022). Using a theory of change to evaluate the impact of a conservation training programme: a practitioner's perspective. Oryx, 56, 720-727.
Smith, RJ et al. (2009). Let the locals lead. Nature, 462, 280-281.
Young, RP, Hudson, MA et al. (2014). Accounting for conservation: Using the IUCN Red List Index to evaluate the impact of a conservation organization. Biological Conservation, 180, 84-96.
The student will be based at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), working closely with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT) and spending time at their offices in Jersey. There may also be the opportunity for fieldwork to assess their training project in Madagascar. They will receive additional training from Kent Graduate School. They are likely to analyse data using R and will also learn skills such as academic writing, giving conference presentations and time management.
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