Women in Wildlife

This episode explores the idea of empathetic distress and why it can be so draining for people who work in caring, high-emotion roles, including those within the wildlife industry. We have emotional intelligence Olivia Oginska as our guest on this episode, who explains the difference between compassion and the kind of emotional exhaustion that comes from taking on the suffering of others, and why...

In this month's episode of the WIW podcast we explore the journey of Dr. Sharon Mulindi, a dedicated wildlife veterinarian from Kenya. She shares her experiences working in remote areas, facing challenges as a woman in the field, and engaging local communities in conservation efforts. Dr. Mulindi's story highlights the importance of representation, community involvement, and a holistic One Health...

In this month's topic-focused episode, science communication expert and author Zoe Kean shares insights from her book "Why We Like This", delving into the fascinating parallels between wildlife health and human diseases, particularly cancer. She explores the paradoxes of evolutionary biology related to aging, sex, and cancer, and how cancer is an ancient and universal phenomenon in multicellular l...

This month's episode is adventure packed, with the very inspiring Dr Sheddy, a veterinary professional redefining conservation and animal care through innovative projects through sea and land. From working in Australia to sailing across Central America and Asia, Sheddy is making a tangible difference in animal welfare and community health.  The main topics of this episode include the transition fr...

In this episode we’re delighted to be joined by Akanksha Sood Singh, a natural history filmmaker from India who has spent over 25 years telling powerful stories about lesser-known species and underrepresented voices in conservation. We explore Akanksha’s journey into wildlife filmmaking, from her beginnings in science to building a career in natural history filmmaking. Akanksha shares the challeng...

Who can post, and who can't? Welcome back for part 2 of our conversation with Connie Needham, which is a topic-based episode where we delve into the profound effects of social media on wildlife welfare and conservation. While social media can be a fantastic tool for bringing awareness and support for wildlife conservation, we openly discuss how close contact photos and sensationalized content can...

We are so thrilled to have Connie Needham on the podcast for a two part series! Connie is a passionate wildlife storyteller shares her journey from the Scottish countryside to becoming a dedicated advocate for ethical wildlife tourism. Connie discusses her journey from studying philosophy to her work in wildlife advocacy. She emphasises the importance of recognizing red flags in wildlife tourism a...

This episode dives into the realities of doing a PhD in Australia. Co-host Eliza, now in the final year of her PhD, reflects on the best and worst parts of the journey so far, while co-host Maddy opens up about her decision to walk away from her PhD in 2022, and how she feels about that choice four years later. We unpack the constant uphill learning curve of a PhD, toxic academic culture, and the...

In our (slightly belated) December episode, we delve into the remarkable journey of Narau Kimani Laizer, a Maasai woman from Tanzania who defied cultural expectations to pursue education and empowerment. Growing up in a community where education for girls was not prioritized, Nara bravely escaped an arranged marriage at the age of 12 to seek a different life. With the support of a compassionate te...

For our November episode, we celebrated our two year podcast birthday! We combined this celebration and look back of two years of trailblazing guests, with our yearly wrap-up (a tad early). We finally introduced our amazing producer, Taylor, and got to hear about her extensive background in communications and incredible new job at Free The Bears. We chatted about the ways in which our guests and t...

For our October episode we were joined by the delightful Dr Liberty Boyd. Liberty is a marine biologist, science communicator, and educator. With a PhD in marine biology, her work bridges academic research, wildlife conservation, and storytelling to drive meaningful change for coastal ecosystems and the communities that rely on them. Dr. Boyd currently runs the social media page Libertyology — a p...

For our September episode, we were beyond thrilled to have Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza as our podcast guest. Rosa is a Peruvian chemical, National Geographic Explorer, and award-winning artist whose work bridges indigenous knowledge and modern science to protect the Amazon rainforest and its communities Rosa was awarded Peru’s Order of Merit (2025)—the country’s highest state recognition for environ...

For our August episode we were joined by environmental psychology scientist Dr Brianna Le Busque. Bri is the program director of environmental sciences at The University of South Australia, along with being science and technology Australia Superstar of STEM. Her research focuses on biophilia (connections to nature) and biophobia (fear/dislike of nature), especially in the marine context. Her main...

We were thrilled to have Ranger Louie on for our July podcast episode, in celebration of world ranger day (July 31st) and all the incredible women rangers on the front line of conservation! Louie is an absolute firecracker- currently working as a ranger in Western Australia, and bringing us on her adventures through her Youtube and Instagram channels. From starting studying paramedicine, to firefi...

We were fortunate enough to have Unathi Makwange join us for our June episode! Unathi is a wildlife projects coordinator in training from Pretoria, South Africa, with a deep-rooted passion for nature, storytelling, and making a difference in the conservation space. We learn all about Unathi's journey in getting to this role at the age of 20 years old, including rejection, pivoting, and ultimately...

Welcome back with the WIW podcast listeners! For our May episode we were joined by Ellesha Veness, who is an experienced zookeeper and professional wildlife rescuer. Ellesha shared her career journey with us from breaking into the industry, to working as a zookeeper in some of Australia's most iconic zoos; The Australian Reptile Park and Australia Zoo, to her role as a wildlife rescuer at the Aust...

April's episode of the WIW podcast is with Dr Debbie Saunders, who is the Founder, CEO & Chief Remote Pilot, as well as the resident Conservation Ecologist at Wildlife Drones. We chatted through Debbie's journey, including founding Wildlife Drones (building radio-telemetry sensors for use on drones), which was inspired after work she did in her early career with the migratory bird 'Swift Parro...

For March's podcast episode, we were privileged enough to chat to Dr Dami Pikuda, a seasoned researcher and program evaluator with extensive experience in designing, executing, and managing environment-related projects and programs. Dami fuses  qualitative and quantitative work to propel meaningful action. Fittingly, Dami is part of the delivery team at Women for the Environment (WE) Africa; an or...

Welcome back to the WIW podcast! We couldn’t be more excited to talk to Astrid O’Connor for our February episode. Astrid is a paleobiologist, science communicator, and second year PhD student. We learnt all about Astrid’s PhD, and how she fused her two passions in paleontology and zoology to answer modern conservation problems. Astrid is a huge advocate for accessibility in science, and uses her s...

Happy New Year to our wonderful Women in Wildlife Community! We are kicking off the podcast in 2025 covering an extremely important topic- mental health in the wildlife industry. Who better to delve into this topic with than the executive director of "Not One More Vet", which is an important not-for-profit organisation focusing on tackling suicide and mental health in the veterinary profession. Ou...

Our final episode of the year is a yearly wrap up and our major highlights of the podcast in 2024. Co-hosts Maddy and Eliza talk through some of our largest take-home messages from our guests this year, who were very generous in sharing their wealth of knowledge and insights with us.  Thank you to all our listeners for your support his year. We cannot wait to bring you more in 2025! Hope everyone...

For October's episode, we were joined by conservation educator and popular podcast host, Kirsty Costa! Kirsty is currently the senior manager of conservation impact at Zoos Victoria, where she combines her love for both education and conservation. Kirsty is also the host of the popular podcast "Weekend Birder", a birding podcast for people of all levels and interests (not to mention it is also the...

For our September episode, we were joined by conservation biologist Kate Sheridan! Kate is originally from the UK, however, her work as taken her to all corners of the globe. She initially moved to South Africa to complete her Masters, which looked at recreationist perceptions of lethal and non-lethal management of sharks, and has recently left her job as a marine biologist in the Maldives. Kate h...

In August's episode we were fortunate enough to chat to wildlife biologist Janice Vaz! Janice shares with us her groundbreaking research in big cat animal welfare, as well the hardships & hurdles that she had to navigate through her PhD, particularly with moving to a new country during COVID-19. We hear all about the differences she has noticed in research between her home country in India, co...

We are back after a short winter break! Who better to kick things back off with, than the very inspiring Amy Robbins. Amy is the currently the Deputy Curator of Mammals at Auckland Zoo, as well as the founder of the Sumatran Ranger Project. Amy shares her extensive journey in the zoo industry, particularly with orangutans and carnivores. She delves into the changes that she would like to see withi...