Hi.
You may have noticed a new name posting the blogs so I thought it would be a good time to introduce myself……
I am the newly appointed EDGE Fellows coordinator and recent graduate of the MSc in Wild Animal Biology course run by the Royal Veterinary College and Zoological Society London. I completed my MSc project on the EDGE programme and have been hooked ever since!! My project aimed to establish a conservation attention index for both EDGE and non EDGE mammal species and assessed any potential biases that occur.
During my MSc I was introduced to the Aye-aye and instantly fell in love with this unique species and so began my long distance love affair with Madagascar.
The main role of my position as the EDGE Fellows coordinator is to help Carly in making sure we offer as much support as possible to the EDGE Fellows. Areas I am involved in are:
• Helping to identify suitable candidates for Fellowship funding
• Identifying possible funding organisations and assisting the Fellows with funding proposals.
• Posting up to date blogs with progress of our Fellows research and other important issues
• Working with the EDGE team to create an EDGE Community page
• Assisting EDGE project managers with the organisation of EDGE expeditions.
A little bit about me…..
I am a Greek-Cypriot and German hybrid but was born and bred in sunny South Africa. After my undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences specialising in environmental toxicology, I moved over to the UK to earn some money for my MSc degree. Before staring my degree I spent some time in Ecuador working at the Santa Martha Rescue Centre where my days were filled with nursing baby animals, treating the sick, wounded or abused, entertaining bored birds, big cats, monkeys, caiman (and the occasional boa), endless chopping of fruit and midnight police visits with confiscated animals. It was here that I realised the horrors of the exotic pet and circus animal trade first hand and made it my mission to try and minimise the impact humans have on our natural world.
In addition to my role as the EDGE Fellows Coordinator I am also working for the Great Apes Film Initiative (GAFI) which is an NGO that uses purpose made films to raise awareness and trigger action to solve conservation problems concerning Great apes and their habitats.
