Introducing a new generation of conservation leaders: Ali Aghili

"I was born in Tehran and have been active in biodiversity conservation in Iran since 1996. As an undergraduate at the Tehran Azad University, I studied for a BSc in Natural Resources, Ecology and Environment. I later joined the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford in 2008, in the first cohort to follow the new Postgraduate Diploma in Wildlife Conservation.

Highlights of my conservation career include: collaboration with the UNDP/GEF/WCS Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah project; coordination of IUCN/CEESP projects in Iran on Asiatic cheetah, empowerment of local communities, pastoral nomads, and community-based conservation of wetlands; coordination of WWF/CI Caucasus hotspot project in Iran; Founder and Director of the Persian Leopard Conservation Society, a charitable Tehran-based NGO; Deputy project manager of the UNDP/GEF Conservation of Iranian Wetlands project; consultant and advisor to UNDP and Department of Environment of Iran; and project manager to the UNDP/GEF/SGP Conservation of endangered Persian leopard in Golestan National Park, Iran. My practical interests include: managing multi-dimensional and multi-stake holder conservation projects and protected area management. My research interests lie in community ecology, spatial ecology, applied ecology and conservation of threatened and endangered species, human-wildlife conflict and community-based conservation."