Interview with Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland, guest speaker at New College's Women's Annual Lecture
The guest speaker at this year's Women's Annual Lecture (5.45pm on 22 February in New College Chapel) will be our Old Member, Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland DBE (1985, Biological Sciences).
E.J., the Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, will discuss A saiga saga: Geopolitical, cultural and environmental change in Russia and Central Asia over the past 35 years, reflected in a rollercoaster ride for one small antelope species and for the people trying to save it.
Ahead of her talk, we asked E.J. to tell us more about her lecture as well as her research in conversation science.
What will you be discussing at the New College Women’s Annual Lecture?
My talk will be about my long-standing research on the saiga, which is an obscure species of antelope living in the steppes of Eurasia. It’s a fascinating lens through which to look at how political, social and environmental factors affect wildlife species, and how these species interact with the people who share the steppe with them. It is also an extraordinary survivor as a species – it lived in the Pleistocene with woolly mammoths and sabre-tooth cats but unlike them, it’s still here. It also has survived several major population crashes over the last decades, always bouncing back. So I hope this will give people some interesting insights while also illustrating how science can intertwine with policy and with action on the ground, to make a real difference to the survival of a species.
Your research focuses on conservation science. What can we do as individuals to slow the rate of biodiversity loss in the UK?
As individuals we can sometimes feel powerless to do anything, but there’s actually lots we can do for biodiversity both in our back yards and more generally. We can start small by doing things like not using chemicals in our gardens, making a pond for nature if we have room, and leaving wild places for nature. We can think about where our food comes from, and move more towards vegetables and away from meat (particularly mass-produced meat). We can also try to talk with our friends, family and employers about the importance of biodiversity, and finally we can use our votes at local and national levels and our influence with large companies (e.g. as consumers, investors) to demonstrate that biodiversity matters to us. This can help make broader systemic change.
You started your research career as an undergraduate at New College, studying Pure and Applied Biology – what inspired you to forge a career in research and do you have any advice for our current Biology students who are looking to follow in your footsteps?
Research is just so exciting – what a privilege to be able to think about how to solve some of the most pressing issues of our times, and to have the freedom to explore new ideas. My main advice is to do what is interesting, exciting and important to you – don’t feel the need to follow fads, follow your instincts. And get out and get some experience in the world as well, before deciding what you want to do with your next step. Don’t be in a rush to go straight from undergraduate to a DPhil, you’ll enjoy it more if you come back to it after a year or two of work experience. And finally, be kind and collaborative, and work with other people who have this same way of working. Academia has a bad reputation sometimes, particularly for women or other people who may be overlooked or excluded. But academia is what we make it – there’s no inherent reason why we should compete; brilliant science is absolutely compatible with a more gentle way of working, and this benefits all of us.
