https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32865 Mon, 19 Oct 2026 05:02:48 GMT 2026-10-19T05:02:48Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33977 Title: Factors influencing the use of scientific evidence in conservation practice and policy: Insights from a systematic map Authors: Martin, Philip A; Amirmohammedi, Fereshteh; Barreto, Carlos; Berger, Iris; Bissessur, Prishnee; Christie, Alec P; Donoso, Isabel; Furlan, Violeta; Grainger, Matthew J; Hartup, James; Keith, Aidan M; Ki, Tiffany LT; Littlewood, Nick A; Luke, Sarah H; Matos, Catia; Moser, Valentin; Mukherjee, Nibedita; Martínez de Birgara, Eñaut; Moreno Martín, Álvaro; Ollard, Isobel; Oswald, Alice M; Perea, Santiago; Taberer, Tabitha R; Takola, Elina; Thornhill, Ian; Zafra‐Calvo, Noelia; Walsh, Jessica C; Oliver, Kathryn Abstract: 1. Evidence-based conservation has the potential to improve biodiversity outcomes. Yet many conservation decisions do not explicitly incorporate scientific evidence, despite efforts to promote its use. To strengthen the role of scientific evidence in informing conservation decisions, it is vital to understand which factors influence its use by decision makers. However, to date, there has been no comprehensive attempt to characterise the scientific literature on this topic. 2. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic map to synthesise the literature on factors that impact evidence use in conservation decision-making, including identifying where research has been conducted and which actors have been studied. Our searches and screening identified 169 relevant primary studies. 3. We identified an apparent bias in the evidence use literature towards English-speaking countries in the Global North. Few studies reported focal ecosystems, or threats, but those that did often focused on marine, forest or freshwater systems. The majority of studies investigated practitioners and researchers as actors, with relatively few studies focused on policymakers or other actors. 4. The most commonly reported factors influencing evidence use were relationships between scientists and decision makers, the relevance of evidence and the capacity and resources of conservation organisations. Factors relating to the characteristics of evidence and practitioners/policymakers, including their organisations and decision contexts, were frequently referenced. However, few studies identified factors relating to researchers and research organisations. 5. Synthesis and applications. Researchers should move from characterising factors impacting scientific evidence use to identifying and testing interventions to facilitate its use by conservation decision makers. Since these factors are interlinked, implementation and testing of actions that tackle multiple barriers should be prioritised. Decision makers and researchers should engage with each other early on when defining management, policy and research synthesis questions, define knowledge needs clearly and, where possible, invest in mechanisms to facilitate dialogue and interpretation of evidence. Together, these approaches offer the potential to promote evidence-based conservation practice and policy, resulting in improved biodiversity outcomes.. Description: Data Availability Statement: All data and code for the study are available on Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.22032391 (Martin et al., 2026). Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33977 2026-09-27T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33964 Title: Reframing informal disclosures of sexual violence as ‘an ongoing conversation’: how victim-survivors discuss victimisation with friends, family and partners Authors: Bloomfield-Utting, Jade; Skinner, Tina Abstract: Sexual violence (SV) is more likely to be disclosed to friends, family members and partner(s) (ONS, 2021), though less is known regarding these informal disclosure experiences compared to formal disclosures (for example, to the police). This victim-survivor-led study explored the ways in which victim-survivors of SV disclosed and discussed victimisation with friends, family and partners. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 31 victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape in the UK, demonstrating the gradual nature of disclosure. The findings highlight the various ways in which victim-survivors make others aware of their experiences, including: disclosing as memories emerge, disclosing as awareness emerges, disclosing multiple aspects of victimisation, disclosure gradually becoming limited, partially disclosing, attempting to disclose, and enlisting the support of others to disclose to specific people. In addition to disclosing victimisation experiences, victim-survivors also discuss the impact of victimisation, including the ways in which they were responded to by others. Various factors influence the way in which victim-survivors disclose, including victim-survivor identities, victimisation experiences, acknowledgement status, previous responses and feared responses. The findings indicate that informal disclosure is a complex and ever-shifting process through which victim-survivors attempt to speak about victimisation and impact(s) via numerous conversations with multiple people, potentially over the life course. Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33964 2025-10-16T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33936 Title: A Sociological Approach to the Rights and Dignity of Nature: Towards a Shared Rights Framework Authors: Malik, Sarita; Peck, Mika Abstract: This article offers a sociological analysis of the global Rights of Nature movement, positioning dignity, repair, and socio-ecological justice at its heart. While Rights of Nature has gained traction across environmental law, Indigenous politics, and ecological science, Sociology has largely overlooked its implications, despite the deeply social origins and unequal consequences of ecological harm. To address this, the article integrates Cultural Sociology with decolonial scholarship and Indigenous relational philosophies, situating Lauren Berlant’s concepts of slow death and cruel optimism alongside the Andean philosophy of Buen Vivir . It reframes ecological degradation as an ongoing violation of dignity affecting both human communities and ecosystems. Recognising nature as a rights-bearing subject challenges foundational assumptions about the human-nature binary in rights discourse, presenting an opportunity to broaden sociological research, society–environment knowledge, and socio-political activism. The article makes three core contributions: first, it establishes the Rights of Nature as a necessary object of sociological analysis, showing that existing anthropocentric frameworks are insufficient for understanding contemporary ecological crisis; second, it demonstrates that sociological concepts, particularly those concerning representation, inequality, coloniality, and governance, provide essential tools for analysing and strengthening Rights of Nature frameworks; and third, it develops an original socio-(eco)logical rights framework grounded in dignity and reparations, including a socio-ecological forensics toolkit that enables the diagnosis of harm and the articulation of reparative pathways across human and more-than-human worlds. Together, these contributions reposition Sociology as central to understanding and advancing socio-ecological justice in the context of the global ecological crisis. Description: Data availability statement: This study did not generate or analyse any datasets, as it is based entirely on conceptual and theoretical reasoning. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33936 2026-09-09T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33903 Title: Towards a Decolonised Future for Higher Education Authors: Twyman-Ghoshal, Anamika; ahmed Shafi, Adeela; El Masri, Omar; Copland, Samuel Robert; Afriye, Acheampong Charles Editors: Ahmed Shafi, Adeela; Twyman-Ghoshal, Anamika; Afriye, Acheampong Charles; Copland, Samuel Robert; El Masri, Omar Abstract: It has now been a decade since the 2015 Rhodes Must Fall campaigns began and the phrase ‘Decolonising the Curriculum’ (DtC) became part of the higher education landscape in the United Kingdom and beyond. In that time, it has become increasingly clear that an effective decolonising strategy must extend to the structures and leadership of universities (Shafi, Chapter 14). However, even without significant support from those with decision-making power in higher education institutions, the chapters in this book have demonstrated inspiring and innovative grassroots efforts to actively engage with transforming colonial curricula. In bringing together a multidisciplinary community of academics to showcase and describe their efforts and challenges in one publication, we have endeavoured to convey that decolonising work is a collective effort, one where we can be inspired by and learn from the ideas and practices of others. Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33903 2025-12-12T00:00:00Z