Dr. Chris Newman joined the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford in 1991 when he undertook his doctorate on mammalian population dynamics. He has authored, and tutors in, a diploma module with Oxford’s Centre for Professional Development: Techniques for Monitoring Mammals and Reptiles. He also serves as the wild mammals officer for the Zoology Department’s research ethical review panel. The effects of climate change on population dynamics remain one of his foremost academic interests, particularly with respect to paleoecological processes and global change over time (informed by a background in geology); rates of change are crucial to the capacity of organisms to evolve with changing selection pressures.
Dr. Newman also has a passion for public engagement and outreach in ecological science and environmental issues, with particular regard to finding the most effective means of volunteer management and deployment, while also ensuring that participating volunteers have an informative and satisfying educational experience in context. Outside of research, his interest in the mechanics of how things work extends from natural systems into car mechanics and carpentry—he likes seeing how components assemble to serve a function.