Tanya O'Garra
President
Tanya is an environmental economist with over fifteen years’ experience conducting research on the valuation of ecosystem services and the collective management of shared natural resources. Her current research uses experimental and quasi-experimental methods to estimate the causal impacts of community-based resource management and climate adaptation projects. Tanya is particularly interested in identifying the mechanisms through which interventions lead to impact (as well as those that weaken impact) - and to use this information to develop robust theories of change to guide conservation and natural resource management decisions.
Johanna Eklund
Past Chair, current Member-at-large
Johanna is an Associate Professor at the Digital Geography Lab, University of Helsinki. She is broadly interested in questions related to evaluating the effectiveness of conservation actions. Currently she works on projects attempting to disentangle the many links between funding, governance and ecological outcomes of protected areas. She is also interested in developing new tools and methods for the evaluation of protected area effectiveness and conservation interventions more generally (both quantitative and qualitative). Her work has a strong Global South component and she has experience of working in Madagascar and Tanzania.
Caterina Cosmopolis-del-Carpio
Member-at-large
Caterina is a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures in the UK. Her current research project uses quasi-experimental methods to understand the causal links between poverty-related policies and biodiversity conservation in the Peruvian Amazon. Recently, she has become interested in some aspects of political ecology research (i.e., human-nature interlinkages, power relationships, environmental justice) and would like to explore the subject more under the impact evaluation lens. Caterina is in charge of Program and Conference Planning.
Seb Costedoat
Member-at-large
Seb is a senior manager at the Moore Center for Science, Conservation International. He leads a research portfolio rigorously evaluating, comparing, and synthesizing the impacts and the cost-effectiveness of various types of conservation interventions on forest cover, GHG emissions, and social outcomes. His research combines quasi-experimental impact evaluation methods, theory-based evidence synthesis, and many pieces of environmental social science. Originally from France, he has spent most of his career abroad (Benin, Costa Rica, China, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador). His research aims at better understanding the challenges of governing and incentivizing community-based provision of ecosystem services through innovative science informing the design and adaptive management of interventions. Sebastien is in charge of the IEWG Mentoring Program, and supports the #TuesdaysWithTeamcounterfactual seminar series.
Rachel Martin
Member-at-large
Rachel is a Research Associate at Conservation X Labs, where she leads the Extinction Solutions Index initiative to evaluate, compare, and rank the most effective interventions and innovations that have the potential to curb the sixth mass extinction. Her work focuses on identifying threats to biodiversity and determining their impact on extinction and recovery potential in order to leverage more impactful solutions across disciplines. She has an interdisciplinary background, with particular interest in endangered species conservation, evidence-based decision making, and methods for determining impact of past, present, and future conservation interventions. Rachel is in charge of Communications for the Working Group, and supports the #TuesdaysWithTeamcounterfactual seminar series.
Edwin Pynegar
Member-at-large
Edwin Pynegar is a researcher and practitioner who focuses on incentive-based conservation program design and the use of randomization in conservation impact evaluation. He currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at Bangor University and embedded scientist at Comorian NGO Dahari, designing a forest conservation program on Anjouan, Comoros, and implementing it as a randomized control trial. Previously, he worked with Natura Bolivia Foundation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, implementing qualitative and quantitative impact evaluations and developing watershed forest conservation projects. His other interests include examining appropriateness of impact evaluation methods in particular contexts, the use of technology for conservation monitoring, and socio-political drivers of deforestation in Bolivia. He holds a Ph.D. from Bangor University. Edwin curates the IEWG reading list.
Past Members
Claudia S. Polo-Urrea
Megan Barnes
Louise Glew
Johan Oldekop
Duan Biggs
Jonas Geldmann