Dr Elliot Convery-Fisher, Research Fellow in the Socio-Ecology of Fire Management
I am a conservation social scientist currently focused on shaping fire management across protected areas in Madagascar. More broadly, my work specialises in the intersection of conservation science, protected area management, and community engagement across Africa.
My research is organised around three core themes:
- Attitudes and perceptions of conservation issues: I examine how professional attitudes and institutional contexts shape fire management approaches and influence implementation in practice. My research maps how different actors perceive fire across landscapes and why, revealing the underlying drivers that determine whether fire management succeeds or fails in protected areas.
- Documenting local ecological knowledge: Local ecological knowledge offers invaluable insights that complement traditional scientific approaches, particularly in challenging or underexplored settings. I combine methods such as remote sensing with local knowledge systems to monitor environmental change and understand what integrating different knowledge types can reveal about landscape processes and conservation outcomes.
- Reconciling conservation conflicts: Most conservation challenges stem from competing needs between local livelihoods, conservation management, and government priorities. My work maps these conflicts to identify points of consensus and collaboration, charting pathways that navigate competing interests while achieving conservation goals.
Approach and Impact
I am committed to conducting research that bridges science and conservation implementation through participatory approaches that integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives and knowledge systems. My research directly informs policy and practice in Madagascar through technical reports, policy briefs, and the establishment of fire management communities of practice aimed at shifting attitudes toward proactive fire management.
Beyond academic research, I am passionate about science communication, having published numerous popular articles, given hundreds of live talks, and participated in films documenting scientific life in Edinburgh.