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Staff Profile

Dr Francesca Ridley

Research Associate in Ecology

Background

I am a postdoctoral Research Associate on IUCN’s ‘Knowledge For Nature’ project and based at Newcastle University, UK. I completed my MSc in Global Wildlife Science and Policy and PhD at Newcastle University, the latter supported by NERC via the One Planet Doctoral Training Partnership. I am also a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commissions’ Global Biodiversity Framework Task Force and Freshwater Conservation Committee.

Research

I am currently working on the technical development of the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric, including unifying the metric across biomes (terrestrial, marine and freshwater), as well as an application of the STAR metric to plan sustainable forestry practices. My PhD considered the use of threat maps for conservation planning and policy across spatial scales. My wider academic interests involve utilizing alternative forms of data and evidence synthesis to drive positive change across all sectors of society for the purpose of reducing threats to species and preventing further human-driven extinctions.




Publications

  • Articles

    • Ridley FA, Rushton SP, Hickinbotham EJ, Suggitt AJ, McGowan PJK, Mair L. Global mismatches between threat mapping research effort and the potential of threat abatement actions to reduce extinction risk. Conservation Biology 2024, 38(4), e14271.
    • Ridley FA, Hickinbotham EJ, Suggitt AJ, McGowan PJK, Mair L. The scope and extent of literature that maps threats to species globally: a systematic map. Environmental Evidence 2022, 11, 26.
    • Ridley FA, McGowan PJK, Mair L. The scope and extent of literature that maps threats to species: a systematic map protocol. Environmental Evidence 2020, 9, 23.
    • Mair, L, Ridley, FA, Fleming, LV, McGowan, PJK. A risk assessment framework to improve the efficiency of CITES. Biological Conservation 2019, 239, 108260. In Preparation.