Dr Charlotte Boyd

Regional Conservation Programme Manager

Charlotte.Boyd@birdlife.org.za

Charlotte is a spatial ecologist with a particular interest in understanding the dynamic distribution patterns of highly mobile marine vertebrates (especially seabirds, cetaceans and sharks) and identifying important sites for safeguarding species and ecosystems in the context of broad-scale conservation strategies. She holds a PhD in marine ecology from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA; an MSc in Conservation from University College, London; an MSc in Economics for Development from New College, University of Oxford; and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from New College, University of Oxford. She has 25 years of experience in marine science and international biodiversity conservation, with a long-standing focus on Africa and Madagascar. Prior to joining BirdLife South Africa, Charlotte served as Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Expert at IUCN, co-leading development of the KBA training programme and building capacity for identifying and mapping KBAs around the world; and Africa Oceans Fellow at Conservation International, leading CI’s oceans work in Africa, with a particular focus on Mozambique and the Western Indian Oceans Region.

Jessica Wilmot

Flyway and Migrants Project Manager

jessica.wilmot@birdlife.org.za

As the Flyway and Migrants Project Manager, Jessica works within BirdLife South Africa’s Regional Conservation Programme to support regional and global conservation initiatives that align with the strategies of BirdLife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Bird’s East Atlantic Flyway Initiative. Her responsibilities encompass various tasks, such as identifying threats to key bird species and sites along the East Atlantic Flyway and providing assistance to BirdLife partners to ensure the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas, Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures and supporting the East Atlantic Flyway Coordination Group. Jessica holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management from Central European University.

Christie Wooding

Conservation Assistant
christie.wooding@birdlife.org.za

In her role as Conservation Assistant, Christie supports the work of the Regional Conservation Programme and the Head of Conservation at BirdLife South Africa. She assists mainly with administrative tasks, events and social media, making use of her experience of more than 15 years in online education, project management, administration and wildlife television. She is looking forward to applying her skills in the field of Ornithology specifically and biodiversity conservation in general.

Keenan Meissenheimer

South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Intern

keenan.meissenheimer@birdlife.org.za

Keenan is an intern with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), working on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). Keenan will be working with Dr Charlotte Boyd to support KBA identification and mapping in southern Africa, primarily as part of the Spatial Biodiversity Assessment, Prioritisation, and Planning regional project. Keenan previously worked on IUCN Red List assessments of freshwater taxa and in a molecular lab sequencing samples of reptiles, amphibians and insects. Before that, he was a demonstrator for practicals at the University of the Western Cape while he was working on his M.Sc. in genetics on the phylogeography of the single-striped mouse.