Research and monitoring

Ecology survey

Research & Monitoring Hub

Naturally Informed

At Surrey Wildlife Trust, we are committed to finding the long-term solutions to ongoing biodiversity declines that nature so badly needs in our county. Science is at the heart of our decision-making, and we strive to use sound scientific evidence to inform both our policy and our actions. Building this evidence-base is a continually iterative work-stream, ever growing with advancements in applied science and conservation experience. As part of our role to ensure we can contribute to this process, to inform both ourselves and others, we are keen to work with external partners to further understanding of the natural world. You can find out more in our Research & Monitoring Framework:

Click here to see the Framework

There are six key themes to this work:

1 Understanding the pressures on the natural world and how they impact both biodiversity and bio-abundance.
2 Understanding the causes for decline of key priority species in Surrey and establishing a course of action to reverse this.
3 Discovering better ways to manage and restore the natural environment to support biodiversity, bio-abundance and enhance habitat connectivity.
4 Understanding how new technology can be utilised for various applications across the field of nature conservation. For example, to capture monitoring information about the natural environment or as a tool to widen participation and accessibility.
5 Understanding how people benefit from and interact with the natural environment, from a variety of aspects including education, social, and health and wellbeing.
6

Understanding the economic and social value of natural assets (Natural Capital) within Surrey and how this can then provide the necessary evidence to influence local policy makers, to embed more sustainable practice within all forms of commerce, including the development sector.

Research & Monitoring Showcase

On 13 May 2024 we hosted the first Surrey Wildlife Trust Research & Monitoring Showcase at Royal Holloway University of London. Our student researchers and collaborators shared their findings and insights on how we build and utilise evidence to find long-term solutions to ongoing biodiversity declines. Watch the full showcase recording below.

Conservation Evidence

Credit: University of Cambridge

Evidence Champions

Surrey Wildlife Trust has committed to become an ‘Evidence Champion’ as part of a movement led by Cambridge University to build stronger links between academic researchers and front-line conservationists.

By working with Conservation Evidence, an international initiative to share and embed evidence and research into conservation practice, the Trust will ensure that it both accesses and uses the latest data from around the world to guide and inform its day-to-day work. The Trust will also be feeding back evidence into the system from what we observe on our reserves, making sure that we’ve designed robust experiments to test the effectiveness of our management.

Conservation Evidence

Research news & highlights