BioSS at the 2024 ICMS “Rewilding Mathematics” Workshop

24 June, 2024
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Two people jumping at the top of the hill with background landscape

Last week David Ewing and Altea Lorenzo attended the ICMS “Rewilding Mathematics” Workshop hosted at the Climate Change Institute in Edinburgh.  The event was organised by Michael Singer (UCL) and other experts from UK organisations (Zoological Society of London, Lancaster University, University of Leicester and University of Glasgow). Around thirty quantitative researchers mainly from UK universities, research centres and government agencies with a common interest in understanding the role that mathematics can play in rewilding initiatives spent the week working on a joint academic article.

The hands-on week involved team discussions around four fundamental aspects of rewilding projects requiring quantitative approaches: design and planning of interventions, metrics, dynamic modelling, and socio-ecological interactions. David and Altea were involved in the last two topics respectively, which align with their individual interests in mathematical and statistical modelling approaches in animal health/welfare and ecology, and in socio-economics statistics.

Our colleagues also enjoyed a series of lectures from experts in the topic; Johan du Toit (Zoological Society of London) on the adaptive cycle, Jorge Ramirez (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) on leverage points and ethnomathematics, Wayne Getz (UC Berkeley) on the biomass flow approach to population models, and Tom Hodgson (Credit Nature) on financing rewilding.

The week included plenty of opportunities for networking in a friendly and motivated group, including a fieldtrip to Drumbrae, a rewilding site of the University of Edinburgh.

The workshop followed a series of four seminars, with Altea Lorenzo jointly presenting with Dominic Ducket (GCU) in Seminar 2 on the topic of “Rewilding: stakeholder perceptions and trade-offs.” Recordings of the seminar series are available at: Rewilding Mathematics (A Mathematics for Humanity Programme) | ICMS - International Centre for Mathematical Sciences After the success of the event, several follow-up initiatives were arranged to which our colleagues hope to contribute.

The photographs below show the discussion amongst some of the members of the Mathematics of Social-Ecological Interactions group, and the workshop participants enjoying newt spotting during the workshop fieldtrip in Drumbrae, a rewilding site of the University of Edinburgh.