I am a conservation researcher from Iceland interested in using interdisciplinary approaches to address biodiversity declines and inform policy development, particularly for marine habitats. My recent master’s work, which I built on as an intern with the Marine Stewardship Council, sought to quantify the contributions that fisheries operations can make towards a global Nature Positive goal.
In my current role with the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, I lead the pilot of the NATURE Impacts initiative, a collaboration with WWF to track and prioritise country-level actions for nature recovery.
I completed my DPhil with Professor Lee Sweetlove (Department of Biology, University of Oxford) in June 2024 on plant metabolism and metabolic engineering. During my DPhil and a subsequent postdoc with Professor Sweetlove I developed expert knowledge of the analysis of plant metabolites using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). I am now applying these skills to the detection of volatile organic compounds produced by plants and fungi, and assessing their effects on human health and wellbeing.
I study conservation conflicts: acrimonious, morally fraught divisions over biodiversity conservation and governance.
I collaborate closely with non-academic conservation professionals working on real-world conflicts. We use quantitative methods to measure people’s attitudes, beliefs, and policy preferences, and use results to propose practically orientated ways to improve outcomes for biodiversity and people. I have ongoing projects in Scotland (deer management, woodland restoration, potential reintroduction of Eurasian lynx), the United States (deer management, carnivore coexistence, wildlife decision-making and governance), Germany (hunting, carnivore coexistence),and southern and East Africa (human-wildlife conflicts, protected areas management, community-based natural resource management, hunting).
This research generates social and political evidence evidence on how different groups think about some of the thorniest issues in biodiversity conservation, including competing visions for nature recovery.
I am responsible for team and research coordination and identifying potential collaboration opportunities for the Nature-based Solutions Initiative. This includes organising the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Conference 2024, keeping the NbS Bibliography up to date with current NbS research, and expanding the Case Study platform of best-practice NbS from around the world. I also support communications, helping to maximise the reach and impact of NbS research through content creation across multiple channels.
I am interested in the effects of land use on biodiversity, with my research focusing on the responses of biodiversity, and the complex ecological processes underlying them, to land management interventions and land use change at different spatial scales, and across taxonomic groups.
Past projects have included long-term studies on the effects of arable field margin management on wildlife, landscape-scale studies of the impacts of agricultural and woodland management on butterflies and moths, and multi-site projects investigating effects of organic farming and set-aside on biodiversity.
In my most recent work I have been using national butterfly recording scheme data and land use data to explore the value of trees and hedgerows for promoting biodiversity in farm landscapes. My research outcomes lead to evidence-based, practical conservation recommendations (e.g. handbook ). In my LCNR project I have been working with Estates Services to help develop a framework for monitoring and delivering nature recovery through data collation and mapping, habitat management and outreach at Oxford University’s Park Farm.
I am a community ecologist interested in biodiversity loss and its consequences for the stability and functioning of ecosystems and the provision of ecological services. I currently work mainly in grassland and forest ecosystems. I am scientific leader of the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment in Borneo where we examine the impact of enrichment planting on forest regeneration after logging. I am part of the new NERC thematic programme: Human-modified tropical forests, which includes the SAFE project that investigates the effects of forest fragmentation on biodiversity. On the grassland side I am part of the Nutrient Network, a global co-operative program to understand how nitrogen enrichment impacts biodiversity in grasslands. I also have a sideline in ecological statistical analysis.
I am a DPhil student in the Department of Biology and Geography, studying Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and other methods for ecological compensation, and how they account for real world biodiversity. My DPhil project uses a range of scientific methods (pitfall trapping, emergence trapping, DNA metabarcoding) to address important policy questions, and hopefully prompt changes to how we address impacts on biodiversity.
Nathalie Seddon is Professor of Biodiversity and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Departments of Biology and Geography (Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment) at the University of Oxford. She is also Director of the Agile Initiative, co-lead of the Biodiversity and Society Programme and Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College.
In 2021, she co-founded the Oxford University Social Venture, Nature-based Insights of which she is non-executive Director.
