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The Durrell Trust for Conservation Biology
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CV
Research Interests Protected area network design
Systematic conservation planning software
Marketing and conservation
Other interests I have also published work on the role of positive incentives in conservation, the impact of corruption on conservation success, human-wildlife conflict and predicting deforestation patterns. I continue to have an interest in these topics, especially when they have a spatial element that can be analysed using geographic information systems.
PhD students Nicola Abram, DICE. Designing a conservation corridor in an oil palm dominated landscape in Sabah, Borneo (co-supervisor). Juliette Delavenne, University of Lille and DICE. Applying systematic conservation planning of the Eastern English Channel: what should the conservation objectives be? (co-supervisor) Winnie Kiiru, DICE. Human-elephant conflict in Amboseli, Kenya (co-supervisor) Kristian Metcalfe, DICE. Investigating the biological and socio-economic impacts of potential marine protected area networks in the Eastern English Channel (co-supervisor). Enrico Di Minin, DICE. Conservation planning and megafaunal reintroductions in Maputaland (co-supervisor). Constanza Monterrubio - Community Conserved Areas vs. Private Protected Areas in Mexico (co-supervisor). Diogo Veríssimo, DICE. Maximizing awareness and fundraising for conservation through the flagship concept (co-supervisor). Charlotte Walters, DICE and Institute of Zoology. Present and future conservation of European bats (co-supervisor).
Previous PhD students Henry Brink, DICE. Lion conservation in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania: a case study in sustainable resource utilization (co-supervisor). Bruno Nhancale, DICE. Strengthening and mainstreaming the Maputaland systematic conservation planning system (co-supervisor).
Teaching I am the convenor of a set of GIS and conservation planning workshops for Masters students at DICE and have supervised a number of MSc in Conservation Biology dissertations.
Selected publications (click here for full list) Leader-Williams, N, Adams, WM and Smith, RJ (2010) Trade-offs in conservation: deciding what to save. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. Smith, RJ, Veríssimo, D, Leader-Williams, N, Cowling, RM, Knight, AT (2009). Let the locals lead. Nature, 462, 280-281. Smith, RJ, Easton, J, Nhancale, BA, Armstrong, AJ, Culverwell, J, Dlamini, S, Goodman, PS, Loffler, L, Matthews, WS, Monadjem, A, Mulqueeny, CM, Ngwenya, P, Ntumi, CP, Soto, B and Leader-Williams, N (2008). Designing a transfrontier conservation landscape for the Maputaland centre of endemism using biodiversity, economic and threat data. Biological Conservation, 141, 2127-2138. Smith, RJ, Muir, RDJ, Walpole, MJ, Balmford, A & Leader-Williams, N (2003). Governance and the loss of biodiversity. Nature, 426, 67-70. Veríssimo, D, MacMillan, DC and Smith, RJ (2011). Towards a systematic approach for identifying conservation flagships. Conservation Letters, 4, 1-8. Robert J. Smith |
The majority of my time is spent working on projects to help design protected area (PA) networks based on the systematic conservation planning approach. My two main projects focus on the English Channel and mitigating climate change on PAs in West Africa. I also have an ongoing project that focuses on the 
One aspect of the Maputaland project described above involved developing 
As part of my research on the role of biodiversity hotspots and Key Biodiversity Areas, I have developed an interest in the role of marketing in driving conservation policy and practice. I am currently collaborating on several projects that investigate these issues, focusing on flagship species, priority region schemes and the way that conservation is portrayed in the media.