Prof Zoe Davies (PI)

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent

Zoe is Professor in Biodiversity Conservation. Her research interests cover three main themes: species/community responses to environmental change; human-nature relationships and how biodiversity underpins human wellbeing; and conservation practice/policy. Zoe’s research often crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries, including geography, psychology, engineering, economics and arts. Outside of academia, she is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), sits on the Natural England Science Advisory Committee, and is one of four Senior Associate Editors for the journal Conservation Letters.

Email: z.g.davies@kent.ac.uk

Prof Martin Dallimer (Senior Staff Member)

Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College (formerly at the Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds)

Martin is a Professor of Environmental Sustainability. He integrates research techniques from across different disciplines to better understand the sustainable management of natural environments, biodiversity and ecosystems in a human-dominated world. In particular, Martin’s work focuses on how values for nature and biodiversity underlie human health, well-being and life chances. His research interests fall into three broad areas: biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services; land degradation, sustainable agriculture, land-use and development; and urbanisation, urban greenspaces and sustainable cities.

Email: m.dallimer@imperial.ac.uk

Prof Robert Fish (Senior Staff Member)

Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College (formerly at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent)

Robert is a Professor of Environmental Sustainability. His research interests centre on the social and cultural dimensions of ecosystem-based approaches to natural resource management and nature valuation. Robert’s work is distinguished by its interdisciplinary, participatory and problem-centred focus, as well as by direct intervention in the policy process. He was a co-ordinator of the NERC-led Valuing Nature Programme (2015-2020) and a founding lead editor of the British Ecological Society (BES) journal People and Nature.

Email: r.fish@imperial.ac.uk

Dr Katherine Irvine (Senior Staff Member)

Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences, James Hutton Institute

Katherine a senior researcher in environmental psychology, focusing on people-environment relationships. She draws on an interdisciplinary background in molecular biology, natural resource management, conservation behaviour and environmental psychology to investigate the interface between people and their environmental settings (e.g. natural, built, home, office). Katherine aims to develop bridges between issues of ecological quality, human health/wellbeing and sustainability, whereby nature does not merely ‘serve’ people but people can also ‘serve’ nature. She is a visiting research scholar at the University of Michigan.

Email: katherine.irvine@hutton.ac.uk

Dr Gail Austen (PDRA)

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent

Gail’s work focuses on two core themes. The first is understanding how biodiversity affects wellbeing in human-nature interactions. She is also interested in how to improve the accuracy of species identification, drawing on methods widely used in face recognition research.

Email: g.e.austen@kent.ac.uk

Dr Jessica Fisher (PDRA)

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent

Jessica’s research interests cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. She uses mixed research methods to tackle social and environmental challenges in biodiversity management. Her expertise includes participatory visual methods (video, photo elicitation), quantitative questionnaires, structural equation modelling, ecological survey methods and data visualisation.

Email: j.c.fisher@kent.ac.uk