Chris Sandbrook

• Professor of Conservation and Society, University of Cambridge

I am a conservation social scientist with a range of research interests around the central theme of biodiversity conservation and its relationship with society. My current research investigates (i) the relationship between conservation and development in theory and practice, (ii) the values and viewpoints of conservationists and how these influence conservation action, and (iii) the social and political implications of digital technologies for conservation.

Under the first theme I led the Social Implications of 30×30 Project, with funding from the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP). Working with Post-Doctoral Research Associate Dr Javier Fajardo and a group of global experts, we conducted global analysis to explore the positive and negative implications of different approaches for scaling-up area-based conservation globally, regionally, and in Uganda as a specific country case study. Under this theme I also supervise the doctoral research of Chloe King, on tourism and degrowth in the Galápagos Islands, Natalie Carter, on the gendered impacts of area-based conservation in Northern Uganda, and María Inés Hernández de la Peña, on the relationship between Indigenous people who have migrated to New York City from Mexico and non-humans.

Under the second theme I am part of the Future of Conservation project, a long term collaboration that conducted the first large scale global survey of values held by conservationists. This includes the spin-off GO-FOX project, which enables groups and organisations to identify and reflect on their conservation viewpoints values. Under this theme I am also a Co-Investigator for the NERC Centre for Landscape Regeneration, working with Post-Doctoral Research Associate Dr Annette Green, who is testing the use of the Restoration Partnership Development toolkit in a range of contexts. I supervise two doctoral students working under this theme: Alice Lawrence, who is studying how conservation organisations understand and mobilise the concept of transformation, and Marina Melanidis who is investigating the dynamics of philanthropic funding in conservation.

Under the third theme, I focus on social and political issues raised by the use of digital technologies in conservation, such as AI, drones and camera traps. I supervised the doctoral research of my colleague Trishant Simlai, who works on surveillance technology and conservation in India. I have ongoing interest in the implications of AI for biodiversity conservation.

• 2023–present Professor of Conservation & Society, University of Cambridge

• 2007 University College London, PhD in Anthropology

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