Hi, my name is Laura and I work for life on Earth.
I have a PhD in global agriculture and biodiversity conservation from Humboldt University, Berlin; a Masters in Wildlife Conservation from Edinburgh Napier; and a BSc in Psychology from NUI Maynooth.
After nearly two decades of working internationally, I moved back home to Ireland a few years ago, where I served as Wicklow's first Biodiversity Officer.
Since moving home, I've been going back to my psychology roots, meditating a lot, and treating myself to unlimited forest time.
This has led me to begin to run workshops and short courses on Eco-psychology - I am beginning to answer the questions that have followed me all these years: how do we face the mess we're in without going crazy? How do we live in a crumbling world with a sense of appreciation and joy?
Click here to find out more and join a workshop or course.
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Here's some other stuff I've been lucky enough to be involved in:
In 2010 I led the team that discovered a new chimpanzee behaviour in the Republic of Guinea. We still haven't figured out what the chimps were up to.
During this time, I lived alongside farmers who were struggling to grow food under worsening droughts and floods. I started a fundraiser to support these farmers across sub-Saharan Africa in planting trees on their land, recovering the soil, creating food forests, and increasing food security.
To date, the project has planted over 330,000 trees and restored countless patches of land back to health (go to 400trees.org to donate).
I worked with the wonderful Prof. Tara Martin and Prof. Julia Baum for a 2 year post-doc at UBC, Canada. We brought together over 60 stakeholders in Vancouver, Canada to develop a cost-effective conservation action plan for over 100 species at risk in the region. Since completing this research, the region has gained 5 million dollars in funding to implement the conservation actions that we recommended.
I was a researcher at Oxford, where I highlighted how corruption and the livestock industry is pushing the Amazon rainforest towards chaos and drought. While the EU-Mercosur trade deal was being urgently negotiated, I gained the support of 600 scientists in the EU and 300 Indigenous groups in Brazil to call for human rights and environmental protection to be the cornerstone of EU trade (Kehoe et al., Science, 2019). I met with the European Trade Commissioner to attempt to convey the level of destruction of lives and forests - all committed in the name of EU demand. Thankfully, due to the pressure of countless activists, the EU-Mercosur trade deal was not passed while Bolsonaro was president of Brazil. I continue to collaborate with the over 30 MEPs who supported our call to push for stronger environmental and human rights at the EU level (EUBrazilTrade.org).
I was part of an award winning exhibition in Oxfords Natural History Museum, (Meat the Future exhibition - winner of the Museums + Heritage Advisor Award for Partnership of the Year, 2022).
I led the team that created a Green Santa’s grotto on Grafton street in 2019. With the help of one of Ireland’s most prominent youth climate activists, Saoi O’Connor, letters from children explaining what they wanted for the planet for Christmas were delivered to leaders meeting at the 2019 COP conference.
My work has been covered in hundreds of media interviews including an interview in Nature's Weirdest Events on the BBC, a Sky News interview (live on Christmas Day), and numerous features in the Irish Times, the BBC, the Guardian and many other international media outlets.
I was featured in the Irish Examiner’s list of ‘100 Women of 2021’ under the category of leadership.
I'm also collaborating with grassroots environmental activism campaigns across the island of Ireland, from stopping Shannon LNG to Saving Lough Neagh. I am a member of Sli Eile, and am involved in the media and coordination team for Climate Camp Ireland.
Summary
2024
Eco-psychology Facilitator, Trainer & Public Speaker, Dublin, Ireland
2023
Biodiversity Officer, Wicklow, Ireland
2018 - 2022
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford and The Nature Conservancy, UK
2019
Founded EUBrazilTrade.org
2016 - 2018
Postdoctoral Researcher, Baum Lab, University of Victoria & Martin Conservation Decisions Lab, University of British Columbia, Canada
2015
Founded 400trees.org
2012 - 2016
Doctoral Researcher, Conservation Biogeography Lab, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
2015
Guest Researcher, Wilcove Lab, Princeton University
2011 - 2012
Research and Conservation Fellow, Kino Bay Center, Sonora, Mexico
2010 - 2011
Site Manager, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation & Max Planck Institute, Republic of Guinea
2010
Researcher, Wildcliff Nature Reserve, Western Cape, South Africa
2010
Intern, Wildlife Translocation Services, Kimberley, South Africa
2009 - 2010
Cataloger, National Museum of Scotland
2009 - 2010
Masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
Eco-psychology Facilitator, Trainer & Public Speaker, Dublin, Ireland
2023
Biodiversity Officer, Wicklow, Ireland
2018 - 2022
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford and The Nature Conservancy, UK
2019
Founded EUBrazilTrade.org
2016 - 2018
Postdoctoral Researcher, Baum Lab, University of Victoria & Martin Conservation Decisions Lab, University of British Columbia, Canada
2015
Founded 400trees.org
2012 - 2016
Doctoral Researcher, Conservation Biogeography Lab, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
2015
Guest Researcher, Wilcove Lab, Princeton University
2011 - 2012
Research and Conservation Fellow, Kino Bay Center, Sonora, Mexico
2010 - 2011
Site Manager, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation & Max Planck Institute, Republic of Guinea
2010
Researcher, Wildcliff Nature Reserve, Western Cape, South Africa
2010
Intern, Wildlife Translocation Services, Kimberley, South Africa
2009 - 2010
Cataloger, National Museum of Scotland
2009 - 2010
Masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
