Xavier McNally
Conservation Scholar
-
Focus area
People Policy
-
Location
At the Zoo
- Additional Information PhD - University of Sheffield
I am working in partnership with Chester Zoo and University of Sheffield, my work is aiming to evaluate the Zoo’s Conservation Masterplan. The Masterplan is an ambitious and inspiring document detailing the Zoo’s plan to Prevent Extinction, it is made up of a number of targets to help Chester Zoo achieve its goals. I am investigating how best to achieve and measure Target 5: “Empower 10 million people to live more sustainably and for the benefit of wildlife.” The zoo has a wide range of education and engagement interventions; from Daily Talks within the zoo, to communications across it’s social media.
But how can we translate these interventions into driving more environmentally-friendly behaviours and how should we measure the outcomes?
Having studied BSc Psychology, I migrated into a topic that I am very passionate about, MSc Global Biodiversity Conservation. I believe that people are a sometimes-forgotten aspect of conservation research; but with an ever-increasing urbanised world we need to blend Conservation and Psychology. Behaviour Change theory has been applied to Health Science in the past few years, promoting healthy behaviours and lifestyle changes. We can apply this research to promoting sustainable living – this marries well with the Zoo’s Target 6. I will work alongside the Zoos Education/Social Science teams to investigate the factors influencing empowerment and how we can help Chester Zoo achieve it long term goals.