Rosie Clear Hill Placement – Kew Gardens

In the first 3 months of 2025, I undertook an Envision funded placement at the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate Change (GCBC) based at Kew Gardens, London. The GCBC supports the development of projects in ODA-eligible countries that “develop innovative and scalable approaches to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity that deliver climate solutions and improve livelihoods.”

Image 1: A view of Kew gardens. Getting to work in the beautiful Kew Gardens was a highlight of my placement experience. I was able to explore the gardens during my lunch break and after work.

My role at the GCBC was to do a scoping exercise to identify research gaps in their existing funded projects so that they are better able to direct their work in the future. A major requirement of this exercise was that it was to be stakeholder driven so my focus was organising a series of webinars with GCBC project participants and other interested stakeholders. During these workshops (sometimes with hundreds of participants), I gathered insights into the local context of research and where more support is needed.

Focusing on the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), stakeholders in my webinars highlighted the complexities of working in very small and remote nations. Issues around protection of marine ecosystems, adapting to sea level rise and ensuring sustainable tourism were all highlighted as important areas for increased research. It was interesting to understand how unique the SIDS context is when it comes to research and implementation of conservation.

Online stakeholder workshops were supplemented by a literature review and resulted in regional reports submitted to DEFRA and the ODA. My work was also published as part of a report by the Institute for Development Studies commissioned by the UK cross-government Environment and Nature Research Working Group. Writing this report helped me in developing my skills in writing for a more general, policy-focused audience and synthesising large amounts of information into an accessible format.

A highlight of my time, beyond getting to work at the beautiful Kew Gardens, was attending the annual GCBC conference which took place in March. This was an opportunity to hear the progress reports from the active GCBC projects around the world, discussing their successes and challenges in implementing research and conservation on the ground. I was also tasked with facilitating my own workshop with attendees to discuss the major obstacles they face in their work. Facilitation was a new skill for me, ensuring that everyone was able to both contribute and learn from the workshop in the limited time I had available. Overall, the conference was a brilliant experience in seeing how the GCBC functions and the impact my placement outputs may have.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to undertake this placement thanks to the funding provided by ENVISION.

Image 2: A participant speaking at the GCBC conference. It was very interesting to hear about the ongoing projects funded by the GCBC.