In February 2023, I started working as a self-employed consultant under the name of Conservara (Conservation Analyst for Research Application).

What is Conservara?

Conservara is the “auto-entreprise” that I created to support my work for research application in conservation. The goal is to use the skills and knowledge developed during my years in academia to conservation application rather than research work. Currently conservation NGOs or stakeholders often lack access to important data to inform their actions and academia system limits researchers’ ability to provide such support to applied conservation (see Leaving academia). The goal of Conservara is thus to provide such support, providing data analyses and easy-access platforms to conservation stakeholders who need it.

Which projects am I working on?

Currently, I am mainly working on the project that made me start this adventure: the sRedList project. I am contracted for specific development and maintenance of the sRedList platform (developing the scientific code and the integration in the interactive platform) and to support users of the platform. I am also helping a protected areas network to define a pollinator sampling strategy (power analysis + sampling design), creating a Shiny app to disseminate research results for National Red Listing, and developing a Shiny app to calculate the impact of planned forest logging on carbone, biodiversity and health.

What kind of projects can I work on?

With Conservara, I imagine working for three main groups of stakeholders, as long as projects have strong conservation application. First, I would be happy to support conservation NGOs in their needs to better inform or monitor conservation actions (e.g., providing data analyses or developing tools from conservation NGOs, from very local to global scales). Second, since it is often difficult for researchers to make their results really accessible to end-users, I could help by developing Shiny Apps or other tools to provide end-users with easy-access to research outputs. Third, I could help media by processing and interpreting available data (e.g., on global Protected Areas, global efforts towards meeting biodiversity targets, or Red List data) to inform articles or interactive infographics.

You can see what I can offer in practice in How can I help you?