Exploring complex conservation questions across species, landscapes, and human systems.
CDI develops and collaborates on interdisciplinary research that brings together ecological, spatial, behavioral, and quantitative evidence. Our research is designed not only to expand understanding, but to generate insights that can inform conservation practice.
Research Themes
Human–Wildlife Coexistence
Understanding where and why conflict occurs, how ecological and human factors interact, and which interventions may support safer coexistence.
Predictive & Spatial Conservation Science
Using historical, environmental, behavioral, and spatial data to identify patterns, model risk, and explore where conservation challenges may emerge.
Evidence, Interventions & Conservation Outcomes
Synthesizing research and evaluating programs to understand what appears to work, under what conditions, and where uncertainty remains.
Human Dimensions of Conservation
Examining behavior, attitudes, institutions, incentives, and decision-making as components of conservation systems.
Research in Development
CDI is currently developing its initial research portfolio. Our early work reflects the institute's interdisciplinary approach, examining conservation questions across wildlife, landscapes, human behavior, organizations, and the systems connecting them.
Can existing environmental, spatial, and household-level data help identify where human-wildlife conflict is most likely to occur?
CDI is exploring predictive approaches to human-wildlife conflict using black bear residential entry as an initial case study. The project examines how factors such as food accessibility, occupancy, preventative measures, landscape characteristics, and proximity to habitat may interact to influence risk.
The broader goal is to investigate whether existing incident data can reveal patterns that support more targeted and proactive conflict-prevention strategies.
Predicting Human–Wildlife Conflict Risk
Conservation outcomes depend not only on ecological conditions, but also on the organizations responsible for sustaining conservation work.
CDI is exploring how publicly available nonprofit financial data can be used to better understand financial resilience across the conservation sector. The research considers patterns in revenue, reserves, expenditures, funding concentration, and other organizational characteristics alongside broader economic conditions.
The project aims to explore which factors may be associated with organizational resilience during periods of economic uncertainty and what those patterns might tell us about the long-term capacity to sustain conservation work.
Understanding Financial Resilience in Conservation Organizations
Where are human-wildlife conflicts most likely to occur—and can existing data help us anticipate them?
What makes conservation organizations resilient during periods of economic disruption?
How can behavioral science help explain why conservation interventions succeed in some contexts but encounter barriers in others?
What patterns, relationships, or risks emerge when different forms of conservation evidence are brought together?