Ms. Christell Chesney

Research:

Undergrad Research (2016): Attitudes of Residents in East Bank Berbice, Guyana towards jaguars and other wild cats.

This research focused on perceptions of residents in Berbice towards the five wild cats of Guyana, and the factors influencing their perceptions. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was employed to derive interesting findings on this research.

Professional Development Project (2017-2018): Mangrove protection in Guyana (Hope Beach) - Team Mangrove CLiC

This project is the practical part of the Conservation Leadership for the Caribbean fellowship training program, which allows a team from the fellowship to undertake project planning, project management and project implementation in a Caribbean country, in this case Guyana. The Coastal mangrove forest was targeted for conservation of the flora and fauna species as well as perception and stakeholder by in with the of the residents in of the Hope Mangrove area.

Major thematic areas of research:

• Mammals- Wild Cats
• Coastal Forest- Mangroves
• Perception Studies

Collaborations:

• Dr. E. Paemelaere- Panthera (2015-2016)
• Dr. Anthony Cummings- University of Texas (2015-2016)
• Mr. Philip Da Silva (2015-2016)

These collaborations aided in the planning and implementation of my undergrad research.

• Ms. Kene Moseley
• Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project- National Agricultural Research and Educational Institute (GMRP-NAREI) (2017- to date)
• Conservation Leadership  for the Caribbean (CLiC) (2017- to date)

These collaborations aid in the planning and implementation of the mangrove project.

Experience:

• Designing and conducting perception based questionnaire
• Statistically analyzing quantitative and qualitative data (R &SPSS)
• Conducting and supervising biology based labs and tutorials
• Conservation project planning and management using Miradi Software
• Planning, implementing and monitoring community awareness programs