Christina Ellis's Page

What is your name?

Christina Ellis

What is your job title?

PhD Student

What organisation do you work for?

University of Melbourne, Australia

What aspects of biodiversity are you most interested in?

Biodiversity targets, Endangered species, Poverty and biodiversity, Protected areas

What languages do you speak?

English, Fench, Swahili

Please use this section to introduce yourself in more detail, adding any other relevant information not included in your previous answers. The site administrator will use this answer to decide whether to approve your membership

In 2009 I began a PhD in Resource Management and Geography, School of Land and Environment at the University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2010 I will begin my field research for a thesis titled: Political ecology of resource wars and biodiversity: an evaluation of gorilla conservation in World Heritage Sites, Democratic Republic of Congo. This thesis project captures my approach towards biodiversity conservation: using social science approaches to illuminate the complex social, economic and political causal mechanisms of conservation crises so that conservation, as a discipline, can advance towards systematic examination of the effectiveness of different practices in meeting the diverse set of modern conservation objectives. During my doctoral research I continue to work with conservation NGOs including IUCN and CIFOR. From 2000 – 2009 I worked for the Jane Goodall Institute and WWF coordinating programs for more effective conservation of great apes, with a base in Cameroon. My educational background is in environmental studies (MES York University, thesis on the role of women in the commercial bushmeat trade in Cameroon) and anthropology (BA honours University of Alberta, thesis on maternal kin relationships in rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico).