Associate - strategy

Conservation sociologist Stephen Awoyemi recently earned a doctoral degree from the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University (CEU), Vienna, Austria, focusing on how sociological theory can help explain and solve the conservation problem of trade in vulture parts for belief-based use in Nigeria. He also holds a master’s degree in conservation leadership from the University of Cambridge, and is current chair of the University's Conservation Leadership Alumni Network Council. His research interests broadly include conservation social science, conservation policy, religion, and conservation.  Earlier, Stephen was conservation policy and campaign officer for the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, the foremost conservation organization in Nigeria, and head of its Abuja Office. He is internationally known also through his long-time volunteer work with the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), serving concurrently as President of two of its groups (Africa Section and the Religion and Conservation Biology Working Group) from 2015-2017. In September 2020, Stephen was awarded CEU's Presidential Scholar Award for academic excellence and leadership.