MISS ROSIE BAILLIE

Biography

My PhD project is looking at the different socioecological factors which influence where people go wildlife watching, and how that impacts the sustainability of wildlife tourism. The aim is to find out what's important (and less important) to people when they take part in wildlife watching activities, which will enable policy makers, land and tourism managers to develop wildlife tourism destinations that are sustainable.

I became interested in wildlife tourism sustainability while on a trip to Canada, where I saw bears for the first time. I saw the bear in the photo to the left happily eating at the side of the road. I was watching it, in awe, from my car...but a few metres away from it was a coach full of tourists who had been let off and were trying to take photos of the bear, apparently oblivious to how dangerous and unsustainable it was. It frustrated me so much that I went on to base my masters dissertation on inappropriate behaviour around wildlife.

Education
Current: QUADRAT PhD student @ University of Aberdeen.

2018: MSc Environmental Protection and Management @ University of Edinburgh

2017: BSc (Hons) Forensic Science @ University of Wolverhampton

Research Overview

Wildlife tourism; sustainable wildlife tourism; unethical wildlife tourism; decision making; social media analysis.

Funding and Grants

NERC QUADRATP DTP Studentship