Biodiversity conservation has been an important area of research at the University of Cambridge for many years and academics within this field were instrumental in the creation of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative in 2007.
In September 2013 conservation research at the University of Cambridge was given a further boost with the creation of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI). This newly established Institute acts as a focal point for research on all aspects of biodiversity conservation across the University of Cambridge, fostering dialogue within and between disciplines and facilitating interdisciplinary research collaborations.
The UCCRI’s Founding Director, Dr Bhaskar Vira, and Alison Harvey, the Programme Research Administrator, have been busy over the past few months setting up the Institute. One of their first outputs has been a website, which is rapidly becoming a hub for biodiversity conservation research within the University. In addition to information about the UCCRI, the site also includes a wide range of resources relating to conservation more generally, such as a growing section of tools and methodologies and a regularly updated list of conservation publications.
As well as providing frequent news summaries and links to external sources, the UCCRI website will also showcase the resources available within the University itself through the academic community. One of the key aims is to reach far beyond those Departments that might be considered the traditional homes of conservation research and to engage with academics from across the University. Researchers at the University of Cambridge working on any aspect of conservation have therefore been invited to submit their details in order to be included in the Research Directory on the UCCRI website.
Through the medium of its new website, the UCCRI is well on its way to becoming an indispensable resource for anyone looking to collaborate with conservation researchers from the University of Cambridge. From the perspective of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a clear understanding of which academics focus on conservation will make it easier to build the collaborative relationships that are vital if CCI is to transform the landscape of biodiversity conservation.
The website of the UCCRI can be found here: http://research-institute.conservation.cam.ac.uk/.
For more information about the UCCRI please contact Alison Harvey, the Programme Research Administrator, on uccri-administrator@conservation.cam.ac.uk or +44 (0)1223 333389
