Professor Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz’s inaugural lecture is set to take place on 20 February 2019 at the University of Nottingham Teaching Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
As a conservation research and expert, in his inaugural lecture, Professor Campos-Arceiz will reflect on the topic that has occupied his academic career – the conservation of wild elephants and other Asian megafauna. He will use the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME) as a case study to discuss why sound science is an essential but just a small part of what is needed to conserve biodiversity.
“I will defend the importance of messy inter-disciplinary and inter-sectorial efforts, and why academia needs to better integrate in the conservation life-cycle, including research, capacity building, and contributing to the decision-making and implementation of conservation initiatives. Malaysia is a rich country, with a fair amount of forest and wildlife, and low human population density, can afford to conserve its wildlife, however, we are running out of time. Having elephants, rhinos, and tigers, roaming the forests of Southeast Asia by the end of the 21st century will require good vision, leadership, governance, and, importantly, large doses of optimism,” says Professor Campos-Arceiz.
Professor Campos-Arceiz holds Master and PhD degrees from the University of Tokyo and was a post-doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore. He has supervised (including ongoing) eight PhDs and eight Master’s in Research, and has published over 50 articles in international scientific journals, and has been cited over 1,250 times.
Professor Campos-Arceiz is a Professor in Tropical Conservation Ecology at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia (UNM) and has been with the university since 2011. His research interest focuses on the behaviour, ecology and conservation of Asian megafauna, particularly elephants. He studies the ecological role of large animals in seed dispersal and works on evidence-based strategies to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. Most of his work is in Peninsular Malaysia but has also conducted and published research in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Japan, Mongolia, and other Asian countries.
According to University of Nottingham Malaysia Head of School of Environmental Sciences Professor Christopher Gibbins: “Ahimsa is of course best known for his research on Asian Elephants, and nowadays spends much of his time supporting NGOs and government in their efforts to conserve Malaysia’s rich ecosystems and the animals, such as elephants, that live in them. His research and the teaching help make our Environmental Science degree distinctive, and both attractive and enjoyable for students. His recent promotion to a Professor is well-earned reward for his contribution to conservation biology in Malaysia and beyond.
(Article image caption: Ahimsa during his field research)
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Posted on 20th February 2019