Dr Janine Robinson from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has been awarded the RSPB’s (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Conservation Science Award for Outstanding PhD 2019, winning from a pool of nominations from across UK universities.
Dr Robinson, a conservation scientist with a professional and academic background in wildlife trade research, policy and management, won this year’s award for her PhD Supplying the exotic pet trade: conservation and livelihood implications under the supervision of Dr David Roberts. She received her specially-commissioned medal and cash prize during a ceremony at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s David Attenborough Building on 9th October.
The standard of applications for this year’s awards was described by Dr David Gibbons, Head of the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, as “staggeringly impressive” and the award winners as “the cream of a very impressive crop”.
Students from the University of Kent have won RSPB Conservation Science Awards on three previous occasions: twice for DICE (Dr Jake Bicknell in 2017 and Dr Amy Hinsley in 2018), and once for the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (Dr Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita in 2016).
Dr Robinson said, “I am extremely honoured and excited to have received this award from the RSPB and have my work recognised in this way. DICE provides a unique and contemporary environment to explore complex conservation issues, such as the wildlife trade, through interdisciplinary research, and I am proud to be part of this.”
Her PhD used social and economic methods to investigate livelihoods in Madagascar, associated with the collection of wildlife for the exotic pet trade, and explore issues surrounding conservation and sustainability. She is currently working on a range of wildlife trade-related projects at DICE and teaches on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
Prior to coming to Kent, Dr Robinson worked for the CITES Scientific Authority at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and subsequently the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Before this, she spent over two years in Tanzania and Madagascar conducting and co-ordinating field projects, specialising in herpetofauna and bats.