Written by Edie Patey, MSc Wildlife Conservation at Bangor University
At the start of February, I was lucky enough to attend a lecture and careers Q&A from Dr. Rachel Neugarten, Executive Director of Conservation Planning at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Rachel was visiting the UK to attend the IPBES plenary meeting, hosted by the UK government in Manchester, and kindly took the time to visit the Bangor University School for Environmental and Natural Sciences (SENS). As a Masters student in SENS studying MSc Wildlife Conservation at Bangor University, this was a unique opportunity to hear from someone working at the forefront of international conservation practice and policy.
About Rachel Neugarten
Rachel has committed her career to enabling scientific research to inform biodiversity conservation in practice, including previous roles in Big International NGOs (often referred to as “BINGOs”) such as Conservation International, where she worked as Director for Conservation Priority Setting, and The Nature Conservancy, where she was a Conservation Planning and Information Specialist. Rachel now sits as Executive Director of Conservation Planning at WCS, where she focuses on the spatial modelling of ecosystem services and on measuring the impacts of conservation interventions on biodiversity and people. Hearing about this range of roles was particularly interesting to me, as it highlighted how varied and non-linear a career in conservation can be.
A lecture on conservation in practice
In line with her current work, Rachel first gave a lecture as part of the Conservation and Restoration of Resilient Ecosystems seminar series that was open to all students and staff within SENS. In the lecture, she outlined WCS’s use of science-based approaches to plan and monitor real-world conservation initiatives, and spoke in more detail about spatial planning methods. I found it especially interesting to see how the tools and approaches we encounter on our course are applied in practice by organisations working at a global scale. This included the modelling of Ecosystem Services globally to inform site priorities, a topic which ties in with our course content.
A careers Q&A with masters students
Following the lecture, Rachel was kind enough to run an informal careers Q&A session for Masters students on conservation-related courses, including Wildlife Conservation, Conservation Land Management, and the Erasmus schemes SUFONAMA and GLOBE. For many of us, myself included, this was a valuable opportunity to gain insight into an NGO career from an accomplished scientist with two decades of experience working in large international organisations. Rachel openly shared her advice on how to gain experience in conservation planning, the skills most valued by organisations such as WCS, and what her day-to-day work has looked like across different roles.
Reflections on non-linear careers
Rachel’s honesty about the realities of gaining conservation experience was particularly refreshing. Her reflections on changing jobs, and on leaving and later re-entering academia, offered a valuable perspective for us as Masters students, especially as many of us are currently facing similar questions about our own career paths. As someone approaching the end of my degree, I found this openness both reassuring and motivating.
Gaining insight into Rachel’s career also made me reflect on the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of modern conservation. With experience spanning on-the-ground conservation practice, academic research, and global policy processes, she has consistently worked at the point where evidence is translated into action. Her visit offered an opportunity not only to learn about the tools shaping conservation planning, but also to better understand what it is like to build a career that bridges science and decision-making. For a group of students preparing to embark on conservation careers, Rachel’s words provided both knowledge and comfort, reinforcing the idea that conservation work is often flexible and non-linear. She stressed the importance of developing skills wherever possible, saying yes to learning new things, and being open to unexpected opportunities.
The power of networks and peers
During the careers Q&A, Rachel emphasised the importance of networking over her career, and highlighted how fortunate we were as a group; our current cohort consists of a diverse cohort of students from all over the world, largely due to the two Erasmus schemes. Her emphasis on the value of networking and learning from peers as well as professionals was a fitting reminder of how much we can gain from the community around us during our time on the course.
Overall, Rachel’s visit provided valuable insight into how the skills and tools which we are learning during our masters programmes are being applied in practice for real change. Sessions like these are a fantastic element of our masters alongside the taught content. I would like to thank Rachel for her generosity with her time, and a huge thank you also to Professor Julia P.G. Jones for organising the event.