Dr Francis Massé

Francis Massé joined the BIOSEC project as a post-doctoral researcher in January 2018. He joined the team from the Department of Geography at York University in Toronto, Canada, where he earned his PhD. Francis uses an ethnographic approach to examine the political-ecological dynamics and implications of conservation security, law enforcement, and anti-poaching efforts in response to commercial rhino and elephant poaching in Mozambique and South Africa.

Whilst working on the BIOSEC project, Francis led Work Package 4 – Sourcing wildlife: environmental crime, security and biodiversity protection. Here he continued to examine the policing and security responses to wildlife crime and the illegal wildlife trade. He combines his long-standing focus on protected areas with new research that seeks to understand the broader enforcement chain that is developing to address the illegal wildlife trade. He is particularly interested in how enforcement-oriented approaches affect protected areas, legal systems, and global patterns of biodiversity-related donor funding. He also wants to examine how these approaches materialise in practise across these areas.

In January 2020, Francis moved to Northumbria University as a Lecturer in the department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, where he will continue this research on conservation security, law enforcement, and anti-poaching efforts in response to commercial rhino and elephant poaching.

Research Gate profile: Research Gate
Twitter: @GeoFrancisMasse