Dr Tom Smart

I am a PhD student at Durham University, and I have a particular interest in how the conservation potential of zoos can be maximised. In 2019, I completed my Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Leeds, where I conducted a research project on the educational potential of immersive zoo exhibit design at Chester Zoo.

My PhD work builds on this zoo-based research by looking at how global zoo collections can be made more strategic and resilient in the face of climate change. Zoo collections need to combine attracting visitors with conserving threatened species, but my research aims to highlight species that may become threatened in future, and are not currently considered for conservation in zoos. To do this, I am investigating the species traits that are attractive to zoo visitors and wildlife tourism more generally, while using species distribution modelling to predict range shifts and extinction risk for species likely to become threatened by climate change in the coming decades.

My research also looks at wildlife tourism in the field. In many parts of the world, conservation is highly dependent on income from wildlife tourism, and I will investigate the impact of climate change and potential range-shifts of species important to this industry, and assess the implications for conservation and protected area planning.