I have been a lecturer in Conservation Social Science at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) since 1999. My academic background is interdisciplinary, with a BSc in Zoology and Psychology from the University of Reading and a PhD in behavioural ecology from the University of Stirling. Prior to my appointment at Kent, I spent several years away from academia, working in non-governmental organisations in both conservation and rural development. My early field experience was principally in Peru and in Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa. I am particularly interested in the relationship between local rural communities and conservation, including issues of participation, collaborative management and environmental governance; the role of traditional knowledge in natural resource management; the relationship between indigenous peoples and conservation, and have recently been working on the concept within global protected areas policy of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) (see http://www.kent.ac.uk/sac/research/files/cbcd_research_project_icca_research.pdf). I have also written extensively about the challenges of interdisciplinary approaches in conservation research and have recently published the first comprehensive textbook on social science methods in the field of conservation.

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Recent Publications

Ashayeri, S. And Newing, H. 2012. Meat, markets, pleasure and revenge: multiple motivations for hunting in Bamu National Park, Fars Province, Iran. Parks 18.1: 125-133.

Newing, H. 2011. Conducting Research in Conservation: A Social Science Perspective. Routledge. 376 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-45792-7

Newing, H.S. 2010. Interdisciplinary training in environmental conservation: definitions, progress and future directions. Environmental Conservation 37(4): 410-418.

Newing, H. 2010.Bridging the gap: interdisciplinarity, biocultural diversity and conservation. Pp. 23 – 40 in: Pilgrim, S. and Pretty, J. Eds.Nature and culture: rebuilding lost connections.London: Earthscan.

 

Full list of publications

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Teaching

For the Autumn term I will be on study leave but usually I teach:

Masters level:

Convenor of the MSc programme in Conservation and Rural Development

Convenor of the following modules:

DI876 Research Methods for Social Science 

DI878 Social Science perspectives on Conservation

DI880 Conservation and Community Development 

BSc Level:

Convenor of the following modules: 

DI506 Tourism and conservation

DI520 Conservation and communities 

DI528 Conservation Social Science: methods and research design

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Research interests

• Conservation, rural development and the role of local communities
• The theory and practice of interdisciplinary research
• Collaborative management, and protected areas governance and Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas
• The interaction between traditional knowledge, technical assistance and rational natural resource management
• Indigenous peoples, conservation and biocultural diversity
• International forest policy

Recent research projects

Collaborative wildlife management and changing social contexts in Amazonian Peru

Implementation of International Commitments on Traditional Forest Related Knowledge

Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) in England

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PhD students

Constanza Monterrubio: Community Conserved Areas vs. Private Protected Areas, differences in policy and practical implications for communities and biodiversity conservation.

Erika Ikemoto: Agroforestry, innovation and protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon

Lucy d'Auvergne (joint supervision with Tanya Humle): Investigation into the relationship between commercial development and chimpanzee conservation in the Diecke Forest, Guinea, West Africa.

Meed Mbidzo: Community Forest governance in support of sustainable development: A Namibian Case Study

Previous PhD students

Laura Penn (completed 2005): An exploration of zoo theatre’s contribution to the directives of zoos: a case study from the Central Park Zoo in New York.

Emily Caruso: Being at the Centre: Self and Empire among Ene Ashaninka People in Peruvian Amazonia. ESRC CASE studentship with Rainforest Foundation UK. Joint supervision with Daniela Peluso.

Olivia Woodburne: Navigating moral dilemmas: participatory development among the egalitarian BaAka of the Central African Republic. ESRC CASE studentship with Forest Peoples Programme.

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National / International activities:

Trustee of Rainforest Foundation UK (2009-present)

Founder Trustee of the Tambopata Reserve Society (TReeS) (1985-present)

Advisory Board member, TOFT (Travel Operators for Tigers) (2006-present);

Steering group member, Working Group on Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (IUCN) (2007 – present).

Member of editorial board for African Journal of Ecology

Member of editorial board for Berghahn book series: Studies in Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology

Member of editorial board for Parks: the international journal of Protected Areas and Conservation

Member of Society for Conservation Biology (SCB); SCB Social Science Working Group; Society of Applied Anthropology; Zoological Society of London (ZSL); IUCN policy groups CEESP, TILCEPA, TGER.

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