Joshua Elves-Powell

Education

• PhD Student, London NERC DTP PhD Studentship, Institute of Zoology and University College London, UK, 2019-Present
• MES Master of Environmental Studies, concentration: Environmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania, USA, 2014-2016
• BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Nottingham, UK, 2011–2014

Selected Employment

• Policy Advisor, Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), 2018-2019
• Founder and Expedition Leader, Rangers Without Borders, 2017-Present
• Churchill Fellow (New Zealand, Australia, Fiji), Winston Churchill Memorial Trust UK, 2017

I have been involved in the following teaching: 

• Post-graduate teaching assistant in Genetics, Evolution & Environment (GEE) and Geography, University College London. I regularly supervise dissertation students on UCL Geography's MSc Conservation course.
• Regular guest lecturer for schools, universities and specialist travel companies around the world, including UK, USA, South Korea, South Georgia & Falkland Islands, Svalbard & Franz Josef Land.

• Elves-Powell, J., Dolan, J., Durant, S.M., Lee, H., Linnell, J.D.C., Turvey, S.T.  and Axmacher, J.C. (2024). Integrating local ecological knowledge and remote sensing reveals patterns and drivers of forest cover change: North Korea as a case study. Regional Environmental Change. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-024-02254-z
• Elves-Powell, J., Lee, H., Axmacher, J.C. and Durant, S.M. (2024). Turning the tide on big cat trade: expert opinion on trends and conservation lessons from the Republic of Korea. PLOS ONE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299783
• Elves-Powell, J., Dobson, C.R., Axmacher, J.C. and Durant, S.M. (2024). Records of climbing by Asian Badger Meles leucurus in the Republic of Korea. Small Carnivore Conservation. 
• Arias, M., Coals, P., Ardiantiono, Elves-Powell, J., Rizzolo, J. B., Ghoddousi, A., Boron, V., da Silva, M., Naude, V., Williams, V., Poudel, S., Loveridge, A., Payan, E., Suryawanshi, K. and Dickman, A. (2024). Reflecting on the role of human-felid conflict and local use in big cat trade. Conservation Science and Practice. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13030
• Elves-Powell, J., Neo, X., Park, S., Woodroffe, R., Lee, H., Axmacher, J.C. and Durant. S.M. (2023). A preliminary assessment of the wildlife trade in badgers (Meles leucurus and Arctonyx spp.) (Carnivora: Mustelidae) in South Korea. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2023.03.004
• Li, Y., Powell, J., Jin, A., Ryoo, H.K., Li, H., Pandey, P., Zhu, W., Li, D. and Lee, H. (2022). Community attitudes towards Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) and their prey species in Yanbian, Jilin province, a region of northeast China where tigers are returning. PLoS One. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276554
• Powell, J. and Choi, T. (2022). Bear Farms in South Korea: An End to Policy Deadlock in Sight? International Bear News.
• Powell, J. (2022). Arctic Expedition Tourism: Participant Perspectives. Exploration Revealed.
• Powell, J., Axmacher, J.C., Linnell, J.D.C. and Durant, S.M. (2021). Diverse locations and a long history: historical context for urban leopards (Panthera pardus) in the early Anthropocene from Seoul, Korea. Frontiers in Conservation Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2021.765911 

My research interests are broadly concerned with the ecology and conservation of rare and globally threatened species, particularly focussed on terrestrial mammal populations.

My current research investigates opportunities and challenges for the transboundary conservation of large carnivores in north-east Asia, primarily concerned with the Endangered Amur tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), the world’s largest extant cat. This necessitates the use of a range of research techniques from both the biological and social sciences, within an inter-disciplinary framework, in order to evaluate threats to transboundary Amur tiger populations at both a local and regional scale, as well as the potential opportunities and limitations for conservation interventions, including international wildlife law, conservation translocations and mitigation of human-tiger conflict. Funding for this project is provided by the London NERC Doctoral Training Programme (DTP). I am a visiting researcher with the Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea (KTLCF).

As part of my broader research interests in the conservation of endangered species, I am the Founder and Expedition Leader of Rangers Without Borders, a conservation research programme focussed on the work of wildlife rangers. Our work with Rangers Without Borders to-date has been targeted at Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. In addition, I maintain research interests in island conservation, the subject of my Churchill Fellowship.

I am a National Geographic Explorer and one of the faces of WWF’s #WWFVoices campaign on global biodiversity.

• Explorers Club 50: Fifty people changing the world, honorary award, 2021
• Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Award for Inspiration and Scientific Trail-blazing, research grant, 2019
• National Geographic Grant, research grant, 2017-2018
• Churchill Fellowship, research and travel fellowship, 2017
• St Gallen Symposium ‘Leader of Tomorrow’, honorary award, 2016
• Thouron Award, full academic scholarship, 2014-2016
• University Prize (Geography), academic award - top in school, 2014
• Geography Prize, academic award - top in the department, 2014