Do you want to learn more about citizen science, or hear about research on a cryptic Australian bird that is hard to spot, even when it’s only metres away?
Two University of Queensland students working towards their doctorates in conservation science have developed a podcast series for the general public to highlight cutting-edge research that relates to pressing environmental challenges.
School of Biological Sciences PhD student Rachel Friedman and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student Carla Archibald have released the second episode of their podcast Conservation Crossroads.
“In this 10 minute episode, we chat about citizen science around the world,” Rachel said.
“Diego Balbuena, from San Diego Zoo Global, spoke to us about the massive citizen science project he is a part of in the Amazon.
“And Jessie Cappadonna-Oliver (QUT) and Zoë Stone (UQ) spoke to us about the bristle bird recovery project and how they are using acoustic monitoring and citizen science to conserve this threatened bird species.”
Carla is an Australian wildlife biologist in Associate Professor Jonathan Rhodes’ conservation group currently researching private land conservation across the country and how to use privately protected areas in conservation planning to reach local and international conservation targets.
Rachel is an environmental scientist from the United States, who is studying the social and ecological interactions in forests managed by communities in Indonesia, in Professor Kerrie Wilson’s environmental decisions lab.
“We are both motivated by making science accessible to a broad set of people, and connecting members of the scientific community, policy makers, and the general public,” Rachel said.
“Conservation Crossroads was born out of a desire to improve communication between scientists studying the environment and these other groups of people.
“We are trying to highlight conservation issues that are timely and resonate with more than just academics - for example, citizen science or plastic pollution.
“Because we have access to leading researchers, we are hoping to highlight the research taking place in a way that relates to pressing environmental challenges.
“We have some episodes in the pipeline on topics like great apes and the Antarctic, but are always looking for the next issue of interest.”
If you wish to suggest topics for future episodes or leave feedback, contact Rachel @YumMusings or Carla @CarlaWildlife on Twitter, or hashtag #ConservationCrossroads.
Visit the Conservation Crossroads page at: https://soundcloud.com/user-301096104 and the most recent episode about Citizen Science: https://soundcloud.com/user-301096104/cc-e02-citizen-science-around-the-world
Media: Rachel Friedman, r.friedman@uqconnect.edu.au, 0423 962 383; Carla Archibald, c.archibald@uq.edu.au, 0434 821 974.
