Stephanie Brittain

Dr. Stephanie Brittain is a Lecturer in Conservation Science at the University of Kent’s Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE). Previously, she held a Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology. She earned an MSc from Imperial College London and a PhD from the University of Oxford. Her work spans grassroots organizations, policy, and academia, with a focus on equitable conservation practices.

Education:

• MSc Conservation Science, Imperial College London
• PhD, University of Oxford
• BSc Geography, Queen Mary University of London

Research Interests: Steph’s research emphasizes enhancing equity and effectiveness in conservation through interdisciplinary approaches. Key areas include:

• Community-led biodiversity monitoring
• Indigenous and local community contributions to biodiversity frameworks
• Local ecological knowledge integration
• Socio-cultural drivers of wild meat consumption
• Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring methods

Publications: Steph has authored over 39 peer-reviewed articles, focusing on participatory conservation methods, rights-based approaches, and community engagement. Recent work includes studies on enabling conditions for Indigenous conservation and the role of wild meat alternatives.

Awards and Affiliations:

• 2023–present: Honorary Member, ICCA Consortium
• 2023–present: President, Social Science Working Group (SCB)
• Gerald Durrell Prize (2013)
• Rectors Scholarship (2012)

Advising & Grants: Supervised PhD candidate Justine Broers (University of Liège). Collaborates on projects like the Transformative Pathways initiative (Kenya/Thailand) and a Darwin Initiative project in Ethiopia. Active in grant-funded research on biodiversity monitoring and community resilience.

Labs/Teams: Core member of DICE, leader in the E3 Sharing Space for Nature Initiative, and contributor to the Transformative Pathways project.