Lydia Gibson

Lydia Gibson is an anthropologist and ecologist exploring forest use, ritual practices, and traditional knowledge of Jamaican Maroons and how these are affected by geopolitical shifts, climate change, and colonial legacies. Lydia is also interested in the technical arrangements of environmental sciences and how these are disrupted by the particular conditions of island tropical montane cloud forests (in the Caribbean), which render many technologies and methodological approaches untenable. As well as working with local communities and knowledge-holders to monitor environmental conditions, countermap large areas of the forest, observe population changes, and position their expertise as central to forest ecology, Lydia also collaborates with other stakeholders and international experts to establish baseline data of local bird populations through satellite telemetry and banding efforts. Lydia is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission and contributes to the monitoring and assessment of endemic parrots. Lydia holds a PhD in Environmental Anthropology from University College London, a Masters in Anthropology from UCL, and a Bachelors in Mathematics and Biology from the University of Bristol. Prior to this current postdoctoral role, Lydia was an Economic and Social Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at University College London. Lydia remains an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London's Anthropology Department.