Peggy Bevan

Dr Peggy Bevan is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery (LCNR). Her research addresses how best to measure biodiversity across appropriate spatial and temporal scales in order to understand, evaluate, and mitigate the impacts of environmental disturbance. An overarching aim of her work is to unpack what defines “ecosystem health” and develop robust statistical frameworks to manage data bias in the information age of conservation technology.

To address these questions, Peggy combines automation, passive sensing and quantitative ecological modelling. Her current research at LCNR applies an energetics and functional framework to camera trap data from Ghana, investigating how land-use change influences biodiversity dynamics and testing energy-based metrics of ecosystem health. Methodologically, her previous work spans passive sensor technologies—including camera traps, bioacoustics, autonomous drones and airborne eDNA—integrated with machine learning classifiers, occupancy models, and statistical techniques designed to handle large, noisy datasets.

Prior to joining Oxford, Peggy has held postdoctoral research positions at The Centre for Environment and Biodiversity Research (CBER) at University College London, and Imperial-X at Imperial College London. Peggy completed a PhD in technology-based biodiversity monitoring, focusing on anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity in Nepal and Kenya, at University College London (UCL) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).