George Holmes
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georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes
@georgeholmes.bsky.social
680 followers 74 following 97 posts

Professor of Conservation and Society @envleeds.bsky.social. Known to students as Dr. Evil. Biodiversity conservation. Human geography. Political ecology. Protected areas. Social impacts of conservation. Human-wildlife coexistence. Rewilding. Sarcasm. .. more

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George Edward Thomas Holmes is a British academic administrator, previously serving as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greater Manchester (2006-2025).

Source: Wikipedia
Environmental science 47%
Economics 14%
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georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 4d
plus a dose of techno optimism. I can recommend Theo Stanley’s excellent PhD research on Scottish estates, carbon, capitalism and technology.

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 7d
our letter in @theguardian.com on the rise of 'beaver bombing' and other illicit and unregulated species reintroductions in Britain and elsewhere.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The rise of ‘beaver bombing’ across Europe | Letter
Letter: Prof George Holmes and Gabriel Rowland say illicit releases need to be included in our conversations about which species belong in the UK, and who gets to decide this
www.theguardian.com

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 8d
It's also not a 'pristine' wilderness, given it has indigenous petroglyphs. It is unclear whether it has any additional legal status as a protected landscape (v. unlikely). But it is a stunning place, like a wetter, colder Yosemite, where Asi Conserva Chile took me foraging for Nalka.

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 8d
The relationship between Chilean conservationists and the Tompkins' organisations are much more complex than the foreign media make out. The additionality of the Cochamó purchase is debatable - the place is remote, seismically active, so not really under much threat in the most part.

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 8d
Interesting to see another HUGE purchase of land for a privately protected area in Patagonia. I saw the early stages of this campaign, led by local climbers etc, when doing fieldwork there in 2011. It is misleading to say that it was 'inspired' by gringos. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
‘I can’t think of a place more pristine’: 133,000 hectares of Chilean Patagonia preserved after local fundraising
Exclusive: Ancient forests and turquoise rivers of the Cochamó Valley protected from logging, damming and development
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy, George Holmes

scbeurope.bsky.social
Society for Conservation Biology - Europe @scbeurope.bsky.social · 14d
How can we make conservation fieldwork more inclusive and just?

New document by the SCB Europe's DEIJ Committee summarizes key barriers to participation and practical, evidence-based actions and ways forward. See a couple of examples below.

🔗 www.scbeurope.org/en/deij-comm...

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 19d
Another day, another illicit species release: I suspect there are a few people who know exactly where this one came from (Bavaria, originally, I bet - it seems all Europe's illicit beavers can be traced back there), and quite a few more who have strong suspicions. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years
Cameras capture lone creature collecting materials for its lodge in riverside nature reserve
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Rosaleen Duffy, George Holmes

sicilyfiennes.bsky.social
Sicily Fiennes 🍉 @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social · 24d
One of my PhD chapters: 'Designing user-centered technologies to address the illegal wildlife trade' is OUT NOW in the @society4conbio.bsky.social journal Conservation Science and Practice! Please check out the graphical abstract and give it a read: conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Graphical abstract on a paper on designing user-centred technologies to address the illegal wildlife trade. The image depicts four visual parts of the study, 1. the geographic location where the research was conducted, in Indonesia, 2. Some of the methods, including a needs assessment where members of conservation law enforcement ranked the effectiveness of features that would assist them in their jobs together with a correct species identification, such as the IUCN or protection status, the 3. part shows a prototype of an app on a mobile phone screen, which is the use case we are considering. It shows a picture of a bird taken in a wildlife marketplace followed by the percentage accuracy that the artificial intelligence model has assigned the classification of the image. The 4. section discusses some implications of the study, i.e. that technology results wouldn't be admissible in court (i.e. this species was correctly identified by a tool and not a person) and that bird trade is socially acceptable, which compromises the efficacy of enforcement.

Reposted by Floriane Clément

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 25
Fieldwork can be a unique opportunity, but it can also be a very significant challenge to well-being. My colleagues have developed this interactive reflection tool to help manage well-being whilst on fieldwork, preparing to fieldwork, and when you get back
inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/wellbeing/
Wellbeing Reflection Tool | Inclusive Fieldwork Hub
inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 20
go to POLLEN, load up on radical ideas around coexistence. Then go to ECCB and Pathways, release the ideas and cause absolute havoc?

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 20
They go to the same place as pens, tupperware lids, and exactly one sock from each pair.

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 18
when leaving comments on an early draft of Dr @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social amazing thesis, I described a sentence in it as “so good it should be embroidered on a tea towel”. As a end-of-PhD present, they gifted me this amazing tea towel, with that sentence embroidered on it! Best academic gift ever!
Tea towel with embroidered sentence

Reposted by George Holmes

serenath.bsky.social
Serena T-H @serenath.bsky.social · Nov 17
Are you an ecologist? Do you collect biodiversity data for your role in a charity, research, a government body, or a specialist organisation?

Read on for a thread that might interest you… 🧵 [1/6]

#biodiversity #forests #darkextinction #ecology #research
Photo shows the yellow myxcomycete, Fuligo septica, on deadwood

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Garry Peterson, David L. Roberts , and 5 more

danbrockington.bsky.social
Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · Nov 12
Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.
The Drain of Scientific Publishing
The domination of scientific publishing in the Global North by major commercial publishers is harmful to science. We need the most powerful members of the research community, funders, governments and ...
arxiv.org

Reposted by George Holmes

leverhulme.ac.uk
Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · Nov 11
@extinctionleeds.bsky.social is an interdisciplinary doctoral training programme focusing on topics relating to extinction and its meanings, histories and legacies.

Watch the whole🎬👉 media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/extinc...
@katatrepsis.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social

Reposted by George Holmes

s-pooley.bsky.social
Simon Pooley @s-pooley.bsky.social · Nov 11
A curious thing I share about #okapi is their long history with the U.S., esp. New York: @amnh.org, Bronx Zoo, @wcs.org. Deals w Belgian Congo, Lang's Congo trip, Gilman's philanthropy, #Warhol & Anne Eisner Putnam's art, & Madison Square Gdns where Mr G, the only circus okapi, died. Book out today

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 5
this paper in @consletters.bsky.social is a superb primer on what power means in conservation - a big job to summarise centuries of social theory and decades of conservation social science research into a few thousand words!
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Naming It Is Not Enough: An Orienting Map for Understanding Conservation's Entanglement With Power
Power is frequently acknowledged in conservation as a limiting factor, something to be cited, problematized, or managed, less frequently is it engaged with as a lived, situated, and multidimensional ....
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by James M. Bullock, Dolly Jørgensen

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 4
Fancy coming to POLLEN in Barcelona and joining our panel on "Political Ecologies of Restoration: Reintroduction, Assisted
Migration, and Rewilding"? Then submit an abstract via the link below!

pollenpoliticalecology.network/pollen-2026/...
Programme - POLLEN
Login
pollenpoliticalecology.network

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Nov 4
thanks- the first draft mentioned infant Ibex goats being "kid-napped", but the reviewer didn't like it. It's my mission to put dad jokes and puns into all my papers.

Reposted by Dan Brockington, Lesley A. Hall, Esther Turnhout , and 3 more

georgeiorda.bsky.social
Dr George Iordachescu 🏳️‍🌈 🟥 @georgeiorda.bsky.social · Nov 3
🚨 We are looking for 3 new colleagues to join the GreenFrontier team as Postdoctoral Researchers!

Deadline for applications: 25 Nov 2025

Each of the 3 openings will involve extended ethnographic fieldwork + plenty of opportunities to consolidate research & leadership skills!

Please share widely!

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 30
(warning. This paper contains dad-jokes)

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 30
This started off life as a @naturalengland.bsky.social / DEFRA England Species Reintroduction Taskforce blogpost. By the way, the amazing Gabriel Rowland has just started a PhD exploring the social and ecological aspects of illicit and unregulated translocations

Reposted by Rosaleen Duffy, Dolly Jørgensen

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 30
Short piece in @consletters.bsky.social exploring social, cultural, political and ecological apsects of illicit and unregulated species translocations - what others (not me, due to homophone errors) might call guerilla rewilding. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Who Let the Frogs out? Illicit and Unregulated Species Translocations
Click on the article title to read more.
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by David L. Roberts

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 23
The bison in Kent can be seen by some as a species 're'-introduction, because bonasus and priscus are so genetically and phenotypically close, or a taxon substitution, because they perform the same ecological function, or an introduction of another species altogether, just because it is cool.

Reposted by David L. Roberts

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 23
We assume that bonasus are a forest species, because that's were the remnant populations were - but they may have preferred grasslands, and only live in forests because they are the last refuge from human pressures. So the forest bison may not be truly at home in forests in Kent or anywhere else

Reposted by David L. Roberts

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 23
The Kent bison are European forest bison (bison bonasus). No bonasus remains have been found in Britain, but plenty of extinct Steppe Bison (Bison Priscus) remains have been dug up. How different these species were - genetically, phenotypically, ecologically, is contested.

Reposted by David L. Roberts

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 23
A fun visit to the University of Kent, to discuss species reintroductions. Here's me in front of the campus mural of a European Bison. There's a small herd of them living just three miles from this mural, but it is not a simple story of a 're' introduction.
Two men standing in front of a mural of a bison in forest

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 17
Yes. I'm presuming it was a careful choice not to quote her exact words in the letter, so I'm not going to post them here. I believe some news outlets reported those words, so you can find them elsewhere. But they were pretty mild and a MILLION miles away from anything dangerous or prejudiced.

Reposted by Anthony Burke

georgeholmes.bsky.social
George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 17
This is an important petition on academic freedom, for a professor at Syracuse, NY, USA, who has been indefinitely suspended for a very mildly sarcastic four-word social media post relating to US politics.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Letter of Support for Professor Farhana Sultana
As scholars within and beyond academia, we write in solidarity with academic freedom of expression with our colleague, Dr. Farhana Sultana, an internationally recognized scholar and tenured Full Profe...
docs.google.com

Reposted by George Holmes, Markus P. Eichhorn

rsmythfreelance.bsky.social
Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · Oct 14
Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.
Title page of a collection of animal stories by Henry Williamson: TARKA THE OTTER, SALAR THE SALMON, THE EPIC OF BROCK THE BADGER, CHAKCHEK THE PEREGRINE.