Amy Hinsley

Amy uses interdisciplinary research methods to study the complex interactions between legal and illegal markets for wildlife, and how changes to these markets can impact wild species. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow and a Schmidt AI in Science Fellow at the University of Oxford's Department of Biology. In this role she is working on applying novel machine learning methods to improve our understanding of wildlife trade, and fill key evidence gaps to inform conservation policy and action. She is also currently working on research projects to understand the consumption of saiga antelope horn in Singapore and Japan, the trade of songbirds from the Guiana shield to New York City, and the harvest and trade of medicinal plants in Nepal. She previously researched China's multi-billion dollar Belt & Road Initiative and how it might lead to expanding Traditional Chinese Medicine markets, and the market for farmed and wild bear bile in China. Before joining Oxford, Amy worked for the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre on projects related to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and at Fauna & Flora International on the conservation of threatened tree species. She completed her PhD on the use of the internet and social media by consumers and traders in the orchid horticultural trade, and she co-chairs the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group.