Successful funding from DEFRA - Dr Michelle Newberry

Congratulations to Dr Michelle Newberry Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology (SSPC), for successfully obtaining a Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) grant from the UK government’s Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund in collaboration with the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust in Malawi. The project is entitled ‘Determining the deterrent effect of combatting wildlife crime’ (more information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-list-of-existing-projects

This is a very exciting project and one which we hope can make even a small difference to wildlife crime in Africa.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES) has documented Malawi as a country of primary concern as a transit point for wildlife trafficking, and the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust has spent the past four years putting deterrents in place to disrupt wildlife crime. Our project will now evaluate the effectiveness and impact of these deterrents by examining rates of arrest and convictions, the perceptions of law enforcement and others involved in deterring crime, and the perceptions and motivations of wildlife crime perpetrators. DEFRA are funding £239,018.00 and this is being match-funded by law enforcement and other partners in Malawi. Michelle's involvement relates to the latter aspect of the project and will involve designing the interview schedule and developing psychometric measures to be used with prisoners convicted of wildlife crimes in Malawi, training those who will interview the prisoners, and analysing the interview data.