Background

John supports the Arts, Science, and Conservation programme at CCI.  After studying law, his early career included time as an intern at UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya, research assistant on the Serengeti Lion Project in northern Tanzania, and as Africa Programme Officer for BirdLife International (then the International Council for Bird Preservation).

From 1989 to 1994, John was a member of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford, and completed a doctorate on coastal forest bird communities in Kenya. Since then, he has worked on development programmes, as Head of Policy and Advocacy, and currently works as a writer focusing on birds, culture and society, as well as place-based story-telling, for BirdLife.

With Terry Stevenson, he is also co-author of a Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa, and collaborated with Mark Cocker to publish the complete works of JA Baker, celebrated author of The Peregrine and Hill of Summer.  John has an MA in Contemporary Arts Practice focusing on Art and Environment from University College Falmouth, and a strong interest in arts-science collaborations.