Description

My degree at Durham University, fieldwork, volunteering in conservation projects in Africa and working with a vet are the experiences that form the foundation for my career interests. These experiences, and the people I have met, have opened my eyes to view the extraordinarily complex and precarious balance between humans and wildlife. I have raised money to work on various fascinating conservation projects in Africa every year since finishing my A levels.

I have worked with many and various African fauna such as lions, cheetahs, leopards, southern African antelope, vervet and samango monkeys. On the AfriCat project in Namibia in 2011, which has been set up to determine how rehabilitation will influence predator-prey ratios and determine the success of captive cheetah rehabilitation within a conservation area, I tracked and monitored cheetahs several times daily, assisted in the capture and treatment of sick animals and managed the environment by bush clearing to create space for the cheetahs to run and built and fixed fences. I was also able to assist in veterinary interventions in the fields of dentistry, ophthalmology and gastro-enterology.

In 2012, I went to Timbavati, South Africa, and carried out similar tasks, but for white lion conservation rather than for cheetahs. This program had a strong anthropological strand with both a conservation and community objective. The aim was the reintroduction of white lions back to their natural habitat, alongside the implementation of eco-educational programs to ensure the continuation of the heritage of the area. During this project, I learned about the co-existence between the lions and the indigenous people, and the importance of the traditional spiritual beliefs that surround the lions. Studying anthropology at the same time as participating in these wildlife conservation projects helped build my perspective on the impact of human cultures and beliefs on wildlife, and develop my perspective as a biological anthropologist.

In understanding the importance of education for conservation related goals, I have acquired experience of working with school children aged between 8 and 15 when working in a school in Kenya and a summer school in Brussels, organising and coordinating activities. Being able to work with and educate the young generation is a skill I believe to be very useful for the future of wildlife conservation.

Whilst at Durham University, I was given the opportunity to participate in the Primate and Predator project in Lajuma, South Africa, as part of my final year course. Here I was introduced to the field project in a clearly academic, scientific manner and had the opportunity to observe and research aspects of the project of interest in a satisfying, scientific way.

I have also spent a lot of time in university holidays with an anthropologist veterinary surgeon based in Flanders. During my experience working with him, I was encouraged to look at animal health issues from a perspective arising from the tension between animal-owning consumers and the money-driven animal industry, which, through anthropomorphizing animals, leads animal owners to, unwittingly, harm their animals whilst feeling good about buying more of the manufactured products on the market.

I believe I am a very active, open, innately positive person who strives to make the best of every opportunity. I was an active member of several societies at Durham University, including the conservation society, where we help restore local environments at weekends, and I played in rugby and football teams, as well as taking part in athletic events. I know it may sound clichéd, but I also completed my Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s award whilst at school, which lay the foundations of my trying to push myself to achieve more in the areas of leadership, mental and physical resilience, striving for personal best and responsibility.

Wildlife and the human/wildlife interface have always been my true passion and the more I have learned and seen during my degree course and my conservation volunteering in Africa, the more I understand the urgency for the mobilisation of well-conceived, well-resourced, scientific conservation programmes. It is not just my wish, but, being skilled in this area I also feel it’s my human responsibility to work in the field of conservation.