Current Research Projects
What guides our work
We are a force for joy. Our research, at the intersection of human wellbeing, environmental sustainability, and justice, is aimed at understanding and facilitating joyful relationships between humans and their environment. Specifically, we seek to understand
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how to best integrate diverse data to holistically understand complex socio-environmental systems
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how equity and justice intersect with environmental change, human wellbeing, and efforts to adapt to change
Equity & Justice in the Environment
Best Practices for Cultivating Diverse Fish and Wildlife Agency Workforces
State fish and wildlife agencies have taken on a mission of relevancy, with the goal of expanding beyond their current constituency and embracing new segments of the public. This will lead to increased enjoyment of wildlife through wildlife-related recreation opportunities and extend support for wildlife management activities in the future. A critical prerequisite for enhancing relevancy is building a workforce of professionals that is more representative of the public
being served. The aims of this project are to identify (1) employee perceptions of agency culture as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); (2) challenges to recruitment and retention of diverse staff from the employees’ perspective; and (3) specific actions that might yield a more inclusive culture for employees from diverse backgrounds (based on race/ethnicity, gender, and values).
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Ecology & Conservation
Across environmental fields, there is a noticeable, quantifiable absence of students, researchers, and practitioners who are of lower socio-economic classes, are members of racial and ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, identify as LGBTQIA+, and/or are members other marginalized groups. This research aims to better understand experiences of those from underrepresented backgrounds and to identify structures, practices, and systems that serve to hinder or facilitate their entry and success. Learn more about this work through our publications on the need to amplify diverse experiences and highlight diverse historical figures in ecology, the potential for research to overlook minoritized groups, and on the prevalence of unpaid positions and other exclusionary practices in conservation.
RaMP-UP Tropical BioDiversity program
The RaMP-UP Tropical BioDiversity program creates a research and mentoring experience centered on how the most complex systems - organisms, communities, and ecosystems in the tropics - respond to environmental change. This program is a collaboration between the Global Sustainability Scholars program and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá to train underrepresented students who have had few research and training opportunities and immerse them in a dynamic research community dedicated to the study of tropical biodiversity. Dr. Bailey, as a co-PI on this project supports science communication training, community building with participants, and research of the impact of the program on student success.