Overview

The Conservation Management Program is a new doctoral training program at the University of California at Davis under the auspices of the Graduate Group in Ecology, with sponsorship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. We believe that four tenets of successful conservation research and management lie at the core of this initiative.

1. A basic foundation in ecology is fundamental to developing the management and decision-making skills required to effectively manage ecosystems. This ecological foundation includes skills in statistics, experimental design and quantitative ecology.
2. Training in the social sciences of human ecology and environmental policy are required for conservation within the context of complex human cultures and stakeholder groups.
3. Practical skills for decision-making, planning and communication are essential for enabling scientists to step into leadership roles.
4. Integration and application of these various skills toward real conservation problems should be part of the graduate school experience.

Our goal is to reframe a five year Ph.D. graduate training around these ideas for students desiring a career in conservation management. The Conservation Management Program will accept 10-20 graduate students into this new program for fall of 2010. Although fellowships for tuition and fees have been offered in the past to domestic and international students, we are currently unable to provide financial support. Program participation and certificate achievement will be contingent upon working toward a dissertation project with a conservation agency and addressing a practical problem of ecosystem-based management in a collaborative group project during the first two years of study.