Thursday 16 October 2025 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Manatee Room, 1st floor, East Tower, DAB
About
From wild to curated, plant collections in conservation research
Please join us at our first Lunchtime Conversation for this term to discuss "From wild to curated, plant collections in conservation research" with Elspeth Mathau (Geography; Conservation Research Institute) and Juliet Anderson (Herbarium) on Thursday 16 October, 1-2pm in the Weston Room (David Attenborough Building). Link below for those who cannot attend in person.
Taking an interdisciplinary and time expansive approach to community-based conservation is crucial to reviving biodiversity and biocultural landscapes. Herbaria and gendered indigenous knowledge are often underutilised tools in this area of research but can fill crucial knowledge gaps- particularly around wild foods and forest resources. These can help bridge ecological history with present-day human-plant interactions to inform effective environmental restoration and food system governance that has both social and ecological benefits.
Elspeth Mathau- is a PhD researcher with Professor Rachael Garrett in her Conservation and Development Lab, part of the Conservation Research Institute and Department of Geography. She has an interdisciplinary background in environmental science, biology, and ethnobotany, with a focus on food systems and social justice. Her current research examines wild harvesting and biocultural practices in the forest-based regenerative economy of indigenous communities in the Yukon Territory, Canada. She also looks at climate-driven agricultural expansion in the Yukon and wider boreal forest region.
Juliet Anderson - works as the Collections & Digitisation Assistant for the Cambridge University Herbarium (CGE). With a background in both collections and plant sciences, her role involves facilitating research use of the collection, as well as mobilising the specimens via digitisation. Currently her main focus is on aiding with the digitisation of the Herbarium's British collection, to provide a valuable database of historic native plant occurrences.