Dr Jean-Baptiste Gouyon awarded Leverhulme Research Fellowship

Dr Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, Associate Professor in Science Communication from the UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies, has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.
 
Thanks to this prestigious award, Dr Gouyon will embark on a new project: Nature in a can. Wildlife films and the medialization of wildlife conservation. Starting in October 2023, he will explore archives around Britain, and interview conservation biologists to investigate the relationship between wildlife conservation and wildlife filmmaking. His aim is to find out how much influence wildlife filmmaking has had on the development of wildlife conservation as a science.

Upon receiving the news of the award, Dr Gouyon said: ‘I’m delighted to have been awarded this fellowship. And I am very grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for enabling me to start a new research project. Although it is the continuation of my previous work on wildlife filmmaking, it will take it in new directions. Wildlife conservation is a very important topic, and I can’t wait to find out more about it.’

Dr Gouyon is an expert in the history of wildlife filmmaking. His previous book looks at the history of British wildlife television documentaries. Of his new project he explains: 

‘With this project I propose to look at how film shaped conservation science. I will examine wildlife filmmaking’s influence on conservation thinking, definitions of wildlife and what it means to protect it. Wildlife conservation was the big absent from my previous book. With this new project I want to frontally address the relationship between wildlife films and conservation and tackle the question of how the film medium contributes to the construction of wildlife conservation as a science.’

Since its foundation in 1925, the Leverhulme Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education, funding research projects, fellowships, studentships, bursaries and prizes; it operates across all the academic disciplines, the intention being to support talented individuals as they realise their personal vision in research and professional training. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing approximately £100 million a year.

For more information about the Trust, please visit www.leverhulme.ac.uk and follow the Trust on Twitter @LeverhulmeTrust.