Who We Are
To date, we have run over 70 residential volunteer teams with more than 800 volunteers from many parts of the world. We started our work with volunteers in the UK as part of the University of Oxford 's Mammal Monitoring Project in Wytham Woods, Oxford (for info see www.earthwatch.org & www.wildcru.org). Since 2006 we live predominantly in Canada, running the Mammals of Nova Scotia Project. In addition, we continue our badger research work at Oxford, and in this context supervise undergraduate and MSc projects as well as running a work-experience programme for a drug-and alcohol rehabilitation centre.
We are on the executive committee of the UK's Tracking Mammal's partnership, run by the governments Joint Nature Conservation Committee, advising on the effective use and deployment of volunteers for ecological monitoring and conservation, and are members of the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute in Nova Scotia.
Dr.
Christina D. Buesching
(born 1969 in Winnipeg, Canada)
(born 1969 in Winnipeg, Canada)
I am a Senior Research
Associate with the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford
University. I've got an M.Sc. from the German Primate Center,
Göttingen, on the reproductive physiology and behavior of the female
lesser mouse lemur and a D.Phil. from Oxford University investigating
mammalian sociality and communication in badgers.
Although I have worked on a wide variety of mammals in the past ranging from Australian marsupials to Madagassan prosimians and European carnivores and rodents, I am particularly fascinated by the temperate ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere. I enjoy teaching people from different backgrounds about their environment, and I hope to raise environmental awareness by alerting people to the beauty of nature. Although I am an ethologist at heart, I am currently particularly interested in investigating the socio-political and biological implications of the involvement of volunteers in ecological monitoring.
I am a founder and committee member of the UK government's Tracking Mammals Partnership and advise this committee on volunteer engagement and deployment. I've got two years of experience teaching general zoology to final year students in Germany and have worked as a Science Officer with Earthwatch Europe. I have been a Principal Investigator with the Earthwatch Institute since 2001. Although I grew up in Erlangen, Germany, I am a Canadian citizen, and have been visiting Nova Scotia regularly since 1988.
When I am not working, however, I am training my young Camargue crossbred mare, teaching her tricks as well as how to be a good riding horse.
Although I have worked on a wide variety of mammals in the past ranging from Australian marsupials to Madagassan prosimians and European carnivores and rodents, I am particularly fascinated by the temperate ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere. I enjoy teaching people from different backgrounds about their environment, and I hope to raise environmental awareness by alerting people to the beauty of nature. Although I am an ethologist at heart, I am currently particularly interested in investigating the socio-political and biological implications of the involvement of volunteers in ecological monitoring.
I am a founder and committee member of the UK government's Tracking Mammals Partnership and advise this committee on volunteer engagement and deployment. I've got two years of experience teaching general zoology to final year students in Germany and have worked as a Science Officer with Earthwatch Europe. I have been a Principal Investigator with the Earthwatch Institute since 2001. Although I grew up in Erlangen, Germany, I am a Canadian citizen, and have been visiting Nova Scotia regularly since 1988.
When I am not working, however, I am training my young Camargue crossbred mare, teaching her tricks as well as how to be a good riding horse.
Dr. Chris Newman
(born 1969 in York, UK)
Having studied physical geography, geomorphology and geology during my undergrad years at Aberystwyth in addition to biology, I am particularly interested in setting ecosystems in their physical context. As an ecologist, the effects of climate change on mammal populations are currently my main area of research . I enjoy explaining “the bigger picture” of ecology to students and amateur naturalists alike. In the past I have been teaching fundamental field craft, like reading animal tracks and signs, as well as basic survival skills such as making fire and building shelters, to students.
In my spare time I enjoy the company of our young Husky-German shepherd cross as well as keeping fit with martial arts and weight training.