Elinor has improved the accessibility of the annual BioBlitz event, making it easier for everyone to experience nature (over 1500+ species!) on our Canterbury campus.
“My name is Elinor Casey, and I am in my third year at Kent studying BSc Wildlife Conservation with a Year in Professional Practice. I am currently on my placement year with the University of Kent’s Sustainability team as the Sustainability Projects Officer (Landscape and Biodiversity). I chose to study Wildlife Conservation because I have always been interested in nature and spending time outside. It is important to me to protect the natural spaces that we have and I am passionate about getting other people involved in taking positive action to improve their local environment.”
Can you tell us about your work to make wildlife projects, such as the BioBlitz event, more accessible? Why is this important to you?
“I have been the Accessibility Officer for the University of Kent BioBlitz (a 24-hour event collecting data on as many of the species across campus as possible) for the last 2 years. As a first-year student I suggested the role of Accessibility Officer as I wanted to help allow as many people as possible to engage with the nature on our campus and I knew that the BioBlitz would be a great way to do this. In my first year as Accessibility Officer, one of the ways that I tried to improve the accessibility of the event was providing information such as the route distances and terrain type ahead of time. This allowed people to make more informed decisions on the surveys that they would like to be involved in and helped a wide range of people enjoy the day. Last year I introduced and led a new fully accessible central campus survey route. This enabled people to still participate in a survey even if they weren’t able to walk very far.
As part of my placement year, I have expanded on this survey route, and we will be including it in the new Nature Trail (coming soon!) My biggest project of my placement year has been the My Campus and other Animals campaign, an outreach campaign with the aim of getting people engaged with the nature on their doorstep. Through this I have been working on creating nature content such as plant fact files, in an easily digestible format to help more people be able to learn about nature.
As a disabled student myself, it is important to me that other people can see that there are ways of still engaging with wildlife and conservation. People with disabilities may face a diverse range of barriers and I hope that by following my passion for conservation and coming up with solutions to the barriers that I face, I am able to inspire others to do the same.”
Who helps make the Kent community special for you?
“I feel very lucky that as a conservation student and as a placement student with the sustainability team, I am surrounded by like-minded people who share my love and enthusiasm for the natural world. Within the conservation community, the students and staff that I encounter all have particular areas of interest that they are experts in. I have benefited from their generosity and willingness to share this knowledge and their enthusiasm for a range of topics from bats to bumblebees. The Kent community is also greatly enhanced by the presence of Kent Community Oasis Garden. The volunteers that I have met here consist of students, staff and community members and it is a very unique and special place.”
What advice would you give to Kent students?
“Spend time in nature! We are so lucky at Kent to have such a beautiful green campus and spending time outside is so beneficial for both our physical and mental wellbeing. Our campus is home to over 1500 species, so you really don’t have to go very far at all to start to see some of them. Engaging with nature doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming, it could be as simple as watching the birds out of your window or spending your lunchbreak on a bench outdoors.”
What are your plans for next year?
“Next year will be my final year as an undergraduate here at Kent so a big part of my year will be writing my dissertation! In addition to this I’m looking forward to continuing to learn as much as I can and to develop new skills such as bird ringing, that will help define my future trajectory towards a career or further studies. I am excited to continue volunteering at Kent Community Oasis Garden and the Great Crested Newt monitoring project as they have been really positive elements of my university experience.”
Sign up for the BioBlitz 2026, taking place on Saturday 30 May and help us to document as many species as possible on our campus and beat last year’s record.
The Kent Diamonds campaign recognises the students, staff and alumni that make Kent shine. Learn more about our Kent Diamonds and our other 60th Diamond Anniversary celebrations.