This programme draws on the combined strengths of three academic centres. At the
University of Kent, the Centre for Biocultural Diversity has pioneered research and teaching in ethnobotany and human ecology; it has been rated excellent for Teaching, and its work in anthropological approaches to the environment flagged for excellence in the most recent HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise. The Durrell Institute for
Conservation and Ecology (DICE) is known internationally for its work in the study
and practical implementation of biodiversity management around the world. The Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew has unrivalled plant collections and botanical expertise,
as well as long-standing global involvement with economic botany. All three partners
are involved in major funded projects which have resulted in substantial published
output.
The School of Anthropology and Conservation has a large and diverse staff, with particular expertise in ethnobiological classification, historical ecology, gender, computing applications, indigenous knowledge, ethnographic (including quantitative) research methods, the human ecology of tropical subsistence systems, wildlife conservation, biodiversity management, agricultural change, sustainable development, economic botany and plant taxonomy. Regionally, we have relevant research experience in Europe, the Mediterranean, South East Asia, the Pacific, the Himalayas, tropical South America, Mesoamerica, and sub-Saharan Africa.
The programme is based at the University of Kent, while students benefit from the wealth of collections, particularly the economic botany collections and specialist expertise on plants, their uses and importance available at Kew. At Kent there is an equipped Ethnobiology Laboratory, the expertise of DICE and the Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing. The School is housed in a refurbished spacious building with dedicated DNA, small organism and biological anthropology laboratories.
The Templeman Library has strong holdings in anthropology, area studies and ethnobotany; and good and expanding core holdings in plant science.
