My interest revolves loosely around conservation (unsurprisingly), as a scientific discipline, the normative discourses around it and its influence on international policy, and how it’s practised on the ground. More specific research outputs are gathered under three interconnected umbrellas:

Geospatial data in conservation

Building on the emerging field of data justice, I consider how geospatial data and the digital technologies used to collect, process, and analyse the data are applied in conservation and their justice implications. Data justice pertains to the inequities in procedures in constructing large datasets, the (mis)representations they create, and the consequences of their use (Dencik et al., 2019, Inf. Commun. Soc.) More specifically to conservation, Pritchard et al. proposed a conservation data justice framework with five elements: Data composition, Data control, Data access, Data processing and use, and Data consequences (Pritchard et al., 20222, Conserv. Biol.)

Relevant publications:

Indigenous Peoples and conservation

Considering the colonial history of conservation, not wanting to perpetuate exclusionary and unequal power dynamics, and recognising my own positionality as a non-Indigenous person, I engage with this research area with the intention of elevating Indigenous voices and emphasising their rights to self-determination and autonomy within conservation. I do not speak for Indigenous Peoples, but I see our struggles for a better world as interconnected and support their particular struggles for recognition, greater participation in decision-making, and territorial autonomy. Neither do I intend to essentialise all peoples who identify as Indigenous as having certain traits or characteristics (‘the noble savage’), but recognise individual agency, collective customs, and wider political-economic structures in shaping everyone’s lived realities.

Relevant publications:

Degrowth and conservation

Drawing on the anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist fundamentals of degrowth, and building on ideas of convivial conservation (see The Conservation Revolution by Buscher and Fletcher, 2020), I work on different approaches to doing and funding conservation. Primarily thus far on the concept of Basic Income, whereby communities living in or around conservation areas receive a regular, basic, unconditional payment, in line with current demands for more direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Relevant publications:

  • Fletcher, R., Buccholz, G., de Lange, E., et al. (2025). Cash for conservation? Integrating basic income support into biodiversity and climate finance. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 75: 101554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101554

  • de Lange, E., Sze, J.S., Allan, J. et al. (2023). A global conservation basic income to safeguard biodiversity. Nature Sustainability, 6(8): 1016-1023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01115-7

Challenging coloniality

Outside of my formal academic research, I also have an interest in challenging colonial research practices and improving equity, diversity, and inclusion practices within academic spaces. Together with fellow PhD researchers at the University of Sheffield, we produced a guide for PhD researchers to better understand and challenge colonial practices in research. Based on this guide, I have been invited to speak at other universities/organisations (e.g. Barcelona Institute for Global Health, UK Research Integrity Office, City University of London, Cardiff University, University of Newcastle) to facilitate their discussions and journey towards challenging colonial practices.