Understanding pathways of knowledge to action in conservation

Prof Leah Gerber

  • Start  Thursday 23 Jan 2025 5:30pm
  • Finish    Thursday 23 Jan 2025 6:15pm
  • Venue  Oxford Martin School

Conservation is a crisis discipline, and one that is arguably failing. As we face an unprecedented rate of extinction, how do we mainstream biodiversity conservation into global decision-making and sustainable development?

In this talk, Professor Leah Gerber will describe a theory of change for addressing the biodiversity crisis by integrating innovation with boundary-spanning work.

Providing examples from a decade of work in leading Arizona State University’s Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, she will discuss ways to bring biodiversity into global decision-making and to establish a replicable model for effective conservation.

 

Professor Leah Gerber
Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on Biodiversity & Society

Leah Gerber is a Professor of Conservation Science in the School of Life Sciences and Founding Director of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) at Arizona State University. Gerber’s research, teaching, and leadership advance the integration of science in decision processes to achieve sustainable biodiversity outcomes.

Gerber is a senior sustainability scientist in Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, a fellow in the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society, an honours faculty in the Barrett Honors College, an affiliate faculty in Applied Mathematics for Social Sciences and an affiliate faculty in the School of Public Affairs.

As one of the world’s leading conservation scientists, Gerber frequently serves on globally significant bodies charting the future course of conservation. She served as lead author of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and regularly provides guidance to international agencies and corporate bodies. Gerber has served on the Board of Governors for the Ecological Society of America, the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Society for Marine Mammalogy. She currently serves on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Committee and the Scientific Advisory Boards for Defenders of Wildlife and the Charles Darwin Foundation.

Gerber is passionately committed to communicating the relevance of science in tackling the complex environmental challenges of the 21st century. She communicates regularly with the media as an expert source on global change and biodiversity. She also writes regularly for high-impact general audience platforms, including Nature, Pacific Standard, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Conversation. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has frequently published in leading scientific journals such as Science, Nature, PNAS, American Scientist and Ecology Letters. Her research has garnered a broad funding base, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Lenfest Ocean Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

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