Dr. Richard Bodmer is Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent in the UK. His research focuses on wildlife conservation in the Amazon, particularly the sustainable management of species affected by bushmeat hunting. He has spent more than two decades working in Peru’s Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, examining how hunting, livelihoods and conservation intersect in one of the Amazon’s largest protected areas. He earned his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Cambridge, along with master's and undergraduate degrees in biology and ecology from the University of Illinois, and he holds an Honorary Doctor of Science from the National University of the Peruvian Amazon in Iquitos, Peru.

Dr. Bodmer's work centers on wildlife conservation in regions where hunting pressure and local livelihoods are closely linked. By connecting field data with how wildlife is managed on the ground, he helps define conservation strategies that protect species while supporting the communities that depend on healthy ecosystems. His research has contributed to the development of community-based conservation models in the Amazon, showing that collaboration between local communities and government agencies can maintain healthy wildlife populations while preserving intact rainforest ecosystems.

In the field, his research involves long-term monitoring of wildlife populations, including surveys of mammals and birds, as well as wading bird counts and mist-netting studies. This work tracks how wildlife populations change over time and how those changes are shaped by hunting pressure and environmental conditions. Over decades of research, Dr. Bodmer has helped advance a model of conservation in which protecting wildlife and supporting local communities are not mutually exclusive—and indeed are part of the same long-term solution.