a bit about me

Tackling conservation challenges requires a robust understanding of both the social and ecological context of the problem, and impacts of the solution. We can do a better job of understanding these. We must find, test, and share holistic solutions. By doing this, I believe we can look towards a future that is thriving with life and bountiful with promise.

I'm Dr. Peadar Brehony, and with my colleague Dr. Peter Tyrrell and a great team at Sustain EA we use social and ecological knowledge, science and tools to help our partners to make evidence informed strategic decisions. We work with practitioners, researchers, policy makers, financiers, and citizens to find long-term solutions to the conservation challenges we face. We aim to move conservation to be more socio-economically and socio-ecologically sustainable, and to take a holistic, social-ecological systems approach to conservation challenges. Look us up on LinkedIn.

Our team at Sustain EA are a rare combination of experts who have spent years as both academic researchers and practitioners in fields ranging from conservation, ecology and development to innovative finance and agriculture. This breadth of skills and knowledge has resulted in us working with a range of clients and diverse project base to date. Our skills and services include sustainable financing; science and research advisory; organisation and project development; strategy and prioritisation; data science, analysis, visualisations.

Before we embarked on setting up Sustain EA, I completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge, in the Department of Geography on understanding conservation efforts from a social-ecological systems perspective. In particular, I focussed on the interplay between history, governance, livelihoods, ecology, and conservation in Southern Kenya. Over the course of my career before that, I focussed on providing technical assistance to a spectrum of organisations, from international conservation organisations and national governments to place-based charities and land owner associations. For instance, I coordinated a cross-border conservation initiative; I was technical advisor for a Tanzania-based conservation organisation; I worked with a land owners association in Kenya; and I conducting research with a large international conservation organisation in Gabon.

All of this real world experience has grounded me. I understand not just what makes sense theoretically, but also what can happen practically: I'm a pragmatist.

Ultimately, I want to help organisations to use the best knowledge and information they can, to make the best decisions they can, and to share their impact and experiences with others. That's exactly what we're trying to do at Sustain East Africa.

Publications

Instead of a long list here, my research outputs can be found on Google Scholar, or on ResearchGate.

Academic qualifications

PhD Geography, University of Cambridge, UK (2020); BSc (Honours, First Class) Environmental and Earth System Sciences - Zoology, University College Cork, Ireland (2011), with a one year scholarship to University of California, Santa Barbara, USA (Dean's Honours).

Languages: Fluent in English, French, Swahili, conversant in Maa.

Research interests

My research interests include social-ecological resilience; the impacts of droughts; the role of community based monitoring in resource management; large landscape conservation; human-wildlife coexistence (and reducing conflict); the politics of conservation; and food production and society.

I also believe in the importance of building capacity in conservation, particularly with regards to communities who bear the greatest costs in conservation efforts and I'm involved in ongoing efforts to provide these opportunities.

For more information

Check out my LinkedIn profile which I update from time to time.