The series of videos focuses on mutual learning and collaboration between researchers within the arts and humanities, the natural and social sciences, practitioners, policy makers and citizens, all of whom are integral to understanding conservation problems.
- Bhaskar Vira, University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute
When most people think about biodiversity conservation they think about the importance of protecting the variety of life on Earth. They might not think about how the principles used to study species endangerment and its impacts on people are also used to understand the extinction of languages; or what nature writers like William Wordsworth can tell us about landscapes that previous generations took for granted but have become lost to us.
Now, a series of eight films released by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI) sets out to highlight these remarkable connections, demonstrating the breadth of research interests at the University that have the potential to intersect with 21st-century issues in biodiversity conservation.
Conservation research today has become a global and interdisciplinary field, raising complex issues such as how toxic waste sites in East Africa affect the increasing rarity of the cuckoo in the UK; or how the fashion industry impacts directly on the global water profile both in terms of water pollution as well as waste; or how our consumption of red meat affects climate change.
“The series of videos focuses on mutual learning and collaboration between researchers within the arts and humanities, the natural and social sciences, practitioners, policy makers and citizens, all of whom are integral to understanding conservation problems,” explains UCCRI Director, Dr Bhaskar Vira. “UCCRI provides a space to explore the understanding that emerges when disciplinary silos are broken down, and to foster productive – often mutually critical – dialogue between colleagues from across the University to promote a deeper engagement with the shared challenges that confront the future of humanity and the planet that we inhabit.”
The videos were filmed and produced by UCCRI’s Leverhulme Trust funded Artist in Residence, photographer Toby Smith. Each video showcases researchers from a range of University departments – plant sciences, zoology, social anthropology, English, architectural engineering, land economy, geography, and history and philosophy of science – relating their work and its relevance to conservation.
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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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