Neil Dawson

Neil Dawson is a Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia (UEA) School of Global Development, specializing in environmental justice and rural wellbeing. He holds dual affiliations with the Global Environmental Justice Group and the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) in Lille. His work focuses on biodiversity conservation, climate change, and agricultural development impacts on Indigenous and rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and South America. Dawson chairs the IUCN CEESP Theme on Human Wellbeing and Sustainable Livelihoods, emphasizing equity in conservation governance.

Education: PhD in Environmental Social Science (UEA, 2013), with prior expertise in ecology, economics, and accounting. His career transitioned from seabird ecology (Alaska/UK) to interdisciplinary conservation studies driven by fieldwork in Rwanda, Belarus, and Lao PDR.

Research Interests: Mixed-method approaches to evaluating conservation-development synergies, participatory tools for ecosystem service assessment, and policy advocacy for marginalized communities. Key themes include protected area equity, REDD+ justice, and the social dimensions of climate adaptation.

Media Outreach: Contributions to The Guardian, The Conversation, and policy briefs on African agricultural policies, Lao PDR conservation challenges, and Uganda's REDD+ equity issues. Active in translating research into practitioner manuals like the CESAD tool for protected areas.

Grants & Projects: Lead or co-investigator on 7 projects including 'Towards Just Conservation' (ESPOL-Lille), 'REDEGN II' (global norms analysis), and 'ESPA-Frontiers' (land-use trade-offs). Funded by ESRC, NERC, and Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation initiatives.

Labs/Teams: Member of UEA's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and ClimateUEA network. Collaborates internationally through IUCN commissions and multidisciplinary conservation justice networks.