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Conservation Practice and Evidence

Module description

This module will give students hands on experience in designing and assessing practical measures in conservation. They will hear about practical examples of conservation and then must both design and write a conservation grant based on their acquired knowledge. This will give the students unique guidance in both how to implement conservation measures and how to gather the associated evidence that they are actually working.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to provide you with the key skills required to design, implement, and monitor conservation projects that consider the biodiversity, environment, and human communities that live alongside it. You will first be introduced to how to plan in conservation, including how to effect meaningful change to achieve a desired outcome. You will then gain experience in different techniques to monitor biodiversity and environmental change, and approaches to examine human and policy dimensions of conservation. Following this you will explore how to use conservation evidence to inform and scale actions and how to integrate predictive science into conservation decision-making. Finally, you will explore key conservation leadership and management skills to support you in your career as a conservation scientist and practitioner.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Define and explain key concepts and approaches in conservation science and practise.
• 2. Describe and explain how to plan in conservation using an evidence-based approach.
• 3. Collate and critically evaluate evidence for the success and failure of conservation projects.
• 4. Attain key skills required to execute conservation projects effectively, including in inter-disciplinary data collection, leadership, and management.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Review and critically evaluate relevant primary scientific literature to identify strengths and weaknesses.
• 6. Extract essential principles and synthesise empirical evidence from literature into written work.
• 7. Deploy established techniques of empirical investigation, creative thinking and critical analysis to design novel research and conservation plans and monitor their success.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Handle complex problems and apply relevant knowledge and tools to plan solutions.
• 9. Interact collaboratively and respectfully within peer groups.
• 10. Communicate arguments, evidence and conclusions using a variety of formats for different audiences.
• 11. Engage effectively in debates with different stakeholders in a professional manner.

Syllabus plan

This module will be delivered through interactive lectures or workshops, in-depth discussions, and hands-on practical sessions. The sessions will be delivered by a team of conservation experts from the CEC and by invited lecturers from e.g. CEH. By the end of this module, you will have the skills to design, implement, and evaluate conservation projects.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to redo the relevant assessment. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

The module will draw extensively on primary published research papers in peer-reviewed journals. Key papers will be made available on the ELE page to prepare for each lecture and discussion seminar.

The following textbooks provide useful background reading:

• open access Sutherland series. https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0321

Web-based and electronic resources:

• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
• https://www.conservationevidence.com/

Key words search

Conservation planning; Evidence-based conservation; Conservation leadership; Project implementation.