Conservation Science

Katie Beckmann

Lecturer in Wildlife Health & Conservation Medicine

 

I am a wildlife population health specialist and veterinarian, with a particular interest in applied research that informs conservation practice and wildlife health management.

Following five years in clinical (mainly equine) veterinary practice, and completion of an MSc in Wild Animal Health in 2007, from 2008-2014, I was part of the Wildlife Epidemiology group at the Institute of Zoology (IoZ), Zoological Society of London, conducting disease surveillance and disease risk analyses, and providing veterinary support to conservation projects concerning a broad range of native species. From 2012-2019, I worked at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) where I became the ‘conservation vet’, providing veterinary oversight and scientific support to conservation translocation (reintroduction and population reinforcement) projects in the UK and overseas, and to conservation breeding programmes for threatened waterbird species. I am experienced in investigating and mitigating health problems in captive and free-living populations of threatened species, and in wildlife disease surveillance and disease outbreak investigation. I joined the R(D)SVS in November 2019 as Lecturer in Wildlife Health & Conservation Medicine.

I am currently in the final year of a part-time PhD, about health management planning for (waterbird) conservation translocation projects, based at the Royal Veterinary College (University of London), IoZ and WWT.

I am a European Veterinary Specialist in Zoological Medicine (Wildlife Population Health) and a member of the IUCN/SSC’s Conservation Translocation Specialist Group.