We are excited to share that Aoife “Kate” Pitts, PhD Student, Anthropology and Integrative Conservation, will receive a Graduate Research Fellowship from NSF!
Kate says of her work: “My research integrates social-ecological systems theory and ethnoecology to work towards conservation policies that recognize and protect entanglements of biodiversity and natural resource dependent livelihoods in the southern Colombian Amazon. Through interdisciplinary methodologies such as botanical surveys, GIS analysis, policy evaluation, and ethnography, I investigate the ways in which local communities respond to rapidly shifting socioecological dynamics and explore how conservation and climate policies can best respond to these dynamics. My work aims to synergize livelihood development and biodiversity conservation. Through partnerships with a local NGO and a Colombian research institute, I have spent several months in the Colombian Amazon exploring community responses to reforestation projects and fishing accords and conducting botanical surveys to investigate shifts in key plant species’ habitat distributions and population levels across time.”
We congratulate Kate on this outstanding achievement!