Hi Emily, thanks for being this month’s Staff Spotlight! Can you tell us about your role within DICE?
After completing my Masters here at DICE in 2020/21, I’m thrilled to be back as an Innovation Associate in the E3 Sharing Space for Nature initiative. Working alongside my colleagues Laura Kor and Dave Seaman in the Innovation Team, we’re identifying and fulfilling opportunities that applies DICE expertise to solve conservation problems. A key focus of my role is to create and strengthen working relationships with a range of NGOs, private organisations and local community groups across Kent. I’m a big people-person, so I’m thoroughly enjoying connecting with diverse stakeholders and having meaningful conversations to understand their conservation and developmental needs. Through these collaborations, there is a huge scope for DICE to create far-reaching positive impacts for both people and nature!
What are your research interests?
Understanding, empowering and supporting people is at the heart of what carries me through my career and personal life. Combining this with my passion for the environment, I’m often asking how can we ensure that conservation initiatives are equitable, accessible and beneficial for all? I also love learning about human-nature relationships and how these can differ across social groups and cultures, plus exploring power dynamics and decoloniality within the conservation sector. These drivers have led me down multiple paths in my career, from improving social and environmental sustainability at the University of Leeds, to leading BioBlitz events at the University of Kent and in the Republic of Congo that enhanced community connections with nature. Today as an Innovation Associate, I’m excited to apply DICE’s interdisciplinary approach and support a huge range of impactful conservation projects!
Can you tell us a fun fact about yourself?
I’ve been learning French for a couple of years now and find it quite a difficult language! When I was first visiting a cafe in Congo, I tried putting my learnings to use but panicked and said to the waitress “Je suis un croissant, s’il vous plait”, much to her amusement…
For more about Emily’s work, visit her staff profile on the DICE website.