Thobeka Gumede: A girl who made it against all odds

For Black History Month, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. The theme for UK Black History Month this year is Time for Change: Action Not Words. Thobeka Gumede – a PhD researcher at Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – shares her story below. How … Continue reading Thobeka Gumede: A girl who made it against all odds

Zenobia Lewis: On being a token

As the British Ecological Society (BES) journals celebrated and shared the experiences of Black ecologists during Black History Month UK, we want to also acknowledge that all Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are part of the wider discussion about race and share some similar experiences. Professor Zenobia Lewis from the University of Liverpool sits on the BES Equality and Diversity Working Group and … Continue reading Zenobia Lewis: On being a token

Balance for Better: more initiatives and action plans

We’ve had a great response to our series celebrating initiatives that support #BalanceforBetter and gender equality. Here are some additional projects our Editorial Board are keen for you to know about. Pride Lion Conservation Alliance Amy Dickman I am a founding member of the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance which is a group of six leading women who run effective, grassroots lion conservation projects. We formed … Continue reading Balance for Better: more initiatives and action plans

Balance for Better: Project Biodiversify

As part of International Women’s Day’s #BalanceforBetter campaign, we’re sharing a series of initiatives that promote gender balance in science and academia. Now Dr. Marjorie Weber and Associate Editor, Lars Brudvig share the online repository of teaching materials, Project Biodiversify. Marjorie: Project Biodiversify is an online repository of teaching materials and methods aimed at increasing the diversity of biologists highlighted in lectures, humanizing biologists and … Continue reading Balance for Better: Project Biodiversify

Women in applied ecology – tales from our editors (2 of 2)

What does it really mean to be a woman working in applied ecology? Thursday 8th March is International Women’s Day and Sunday 11th February 2018 was International Day of Women and Girls in Science. To celebrate this, some of our editors have shared  anecdotes highlighting their own challenges and triumphs, providing a snapshot of what it really means to be a woman in applied ecology. Select … Continue reading Women in applied ecology – tales from our editors (2 of 2)

Women in applied ecology – tales from our editors (1 of 2)

What does it really mean to be a woman working in applied ecology? Thursday 8th March is International Women’s Day and Sunday 11th February 2018 was International Day of Women and Girls in Science. To celebrate this, some of our editors have shared  anecdotes highlighting their own challenges and triumphs, providing a snapshot of what it really means to be a woman in applied ecology. Select … Continue reading Women in applied ecology – tales from our editors (1 of 2)

Giant Panda Conservation

Minerva Singh is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge and she is involved with the BES Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group. In this post Minerva looks at whether zoos can help in the conservation of charismatic megafauna. For International Women’s Day, we asked Minerva about her career in science and the challenges and improvements she is seeing in STEM. You can read all … Continue reading Giant Panda Conservation

International Women’s Day 2016: Perspectives from Minerva Singh

For International Women’s Day, we asked Minerva Singh about her career in science and the challenges and improvements she is seeing in STEM. You can read all of our posts for International Women’s Day here. Minerva has also written a blog post for the Applied Ecologist’s blog about whether zoos can help in the conservation of charismatic megafauna: ‘Giant Panda Conservation’ What made you want … Continue reading International Women’s Day 2016: Perspectives from Minerva Singh

Using maths to guide conservation law enforcement

In this post Kiran Dhanjal-Adams discusses her recent paper ‘Optimizing disturbance management for wildlife protection: the enforcement allocation problem’ For International Women’s Day, we asked Kiran about her career in science and the challenges and improvements she is seeing in STEM. You can read all of our posts for International Women’s Day here. Determining where and when to carry out enforcement patrols can be a … Continue reading Using maths to guide conservation law enforcement