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Department of Geography

 

Valerio Donfrancesco BSc, MSc

PhD candidate

Researching relations between people and large carnivores through the prisms of political ecology.

Biography

Career

  • Oct 2020 – present: PhD student, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK
  • April 2023 – June 2023: Consultant (intern), IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (institutional host: International Institute for Environment and Development), Cambridge, UK
  • Dec 2018 – Oct 2019: Membership Development Officer, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), London, UK
  • July 2017: Fieldwork assistant, Balkani Wildlife Society (BWS), Vlhai, Bulgaria
  • May 2016 – Sept 2016: Research intern, Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (LIPU) Rome, Italy

Qualifications

  • MSc in Conservation Science and Policy, University of Exeter (2017-2018)
  • BSc in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter (2014-2017)

Awards and funding

  • ESRC conference grant (2022)
  • Churchill College Travel Grant Award (2022)
  • ESRC DTP Overseas Fieldwork Grant (2021-2022)
  • ESRC DTP Studentship (2020-2023)
  • Commendation for “best overall mark for MSc conservation science and policy 2017/8 programme”, University of Exeter
  • Commendation for “best research project mark for MSc conservation science and policy 2017/8 programme”, University of Exeter
  • Exeter Leaders Award for having undertaken leadership roles and attended a programme of leadership development workshops, University of Exeter (2017)
  • Exeter Award for having been involved in extra-curricular activities and having completed a course on employability skills, University of Exeter (2016)

Nominations

  • Nomination for Janet Moore Prize (outstanding supervisions) (2021-2022), Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Research

My PhD research explores human-wolf relations and interactions in central Italy, including what they look like, how they take shape or are coproduced, and their broader effects and implications. During the last few decades, wolves and other large carnivores have been gradually repopulating and expanding into European landscapes. This event brings new opportunities as well as new challenges, including how to manage predator presence locally where it overlaps with the daily activities and lives of local people. This PhD approaches this issue primarily through a multi-species ethnography, delving into the lives of farmers, wolves and livestock guarding dogs, exploring the formation and coproduction of their entanglements and relations, as well as the social, political and ecological effects that these in turn engender and (re)produce. Through shedding light on these aspects, this research provides the bases for improving the management of human-wolf relations and interactions.

Publications

Journal articles

  • Donfrancesco, V. 2024. (Co)producing landscapes of coexistence: a historical political ecology of human-wolf relations in Italy. Geoforum, 149,103958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.103958
  • Donfrancesco, V. [+26 authors] and Cairns, K.M. 2023. Understanding conflict among experts working on controversial species: a case study on the Australian dingo. Conservation Science and Practice, 5, e12900. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12900
  • Donfrancesco, V. and Luque-Lora, R. 2022. Managing hybridization beyond the natural-anthropogenic dichotomy. Conservation Biology, 36, e13816. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13816
  • Galluzzi, A., Donfrancesco, V., Mastrantonio, G., Sulli, C. and Ciucci, P. 2021. Cost of coexisting with a relict large carnivore population: impact of Apennine brown bears, 2005−2015. Animals, 11, 1453. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051453
  • Salvatori, V., Donfrancesco, V. [+32 authors] and Ciucci, P. 2020. European agreements for nature conservation need to explicitly address wolf-dog hybridization. Biological Conservation, 247, 108525. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108525
  • Donfrancesco, V. [+44 authors] and Mukherjee, N. 2019. Unravelling the scientific debate on how to address wolf-dog hybridization in Europe. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 175. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00175

Talks

  • Donfrancesco, V. 2024. Reflections on a more-than-human political ecology: exploring coexistence with wolves in Italy. Vital Geographies Lightning Talks. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK. Delivered 12/03/24
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2023. The wolf’s tale retold: how capitalism and more-than-human agencies co-produce societal relationships with wolves. Political Ecology Seminar Series, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK. Delivered 13/06/23
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2023. Transcending problematic dualisms in managing wolf-dog hybridisation. Wolves Across Borders: International Conference on Wolf Ecology and Management. Stockholm, Sweden. Delivered 11/05/23
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2023. Fieldwork-ing with sheep farmers and wolves in Tuscany. Third Year PhD Conference. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK. Delivered 27/04/23
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2021. Relations between people and wolves. Tracks, Traces, & Threads workshop. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK (Online). Delivered 16/02/21
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2021. The political ecology of coexistence between people and large carnivores. First Year Postgraduate Forum. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK (Online). Delivered 20/01/21
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2020. What is ‘coexistence’ between people and large carnivores?. Annual Conference of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI), David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, UK (Online). Delivered 16/10/20
  • Donfrancesco, V. 2018. A half-blood’s fate: managing wolf x dog hybridisation in Europe. FXU Science Festival, University of Exeter Penryn Campus, UK. Delivered 15/03/18 Available to watch online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXqt8kRTDes
  • De Lorenzis, A. and Donfrancesco, V. 2016. Lupi alle porte di Roma (translated: Wolves on the outskirts of Rome). Centro Habitat Mediterraneo, Rome, Italy. Delivered 27/05/16

Webinars

  • Hoffman, R., Donfrancesco, V. and Roe, D. 2023. Launch of the Species Use Database. IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (online). Delivered 06/07/23
  • Hoffman, R., Donfrancesco, V. and Roe, D. 2023. Introducing the Species Use Database – a new online resource to improve knowledge and understanding of how wild species are used globally. Conservation Science Group, David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, UK. Delivered 05/07/23

Posters

  • Antonelli, M. [+6 more], Donfrancesco, V. [+3 more] and Donfrancesco, S. 2018. Poster title: Assessing the first reproduction of the wolf in the coastal area of Rome in the last century. XI Italian Congress of Mammalogy. Florence, Italy. Delivered 22/06/18 Abstract available online: Hystrix It. J. Mamm. 2018;29(XI ATIt Congress Supplement):page 48

Workshops

  • Donfrancesco, V., Salvatori, V. and Sandström, C. 2023. Towards an effective and socially just governance of human-wolf interactions. Wolves Across Borders: International Conference on Wolf Ecology and Management. Stockholm, Sweden. Delivered 09/05/23
  • Mukherjee, N., Donfrancesco, V. Keenan, J. and Rees, A. 2018. Biodiversity and Business Linkages. ZSL London Zoo, London, UK. Delivered 09/03/18

Selection of media appearances (interviews only)

  • EOS Wetenschap, Belgian science magazine, Belgium (printed version), “Kruisingen met honden bedreigen de wolf. Een ongewenst liefdeskind“, May 2020
  • BBC Wildlife magazine, UK (printed version) “How to keep dogs from wolves’ doors“, Vol. 37 No. 9 (pp. 55) August 2019
  • Le Scienze, Italian edition of Scientific American, Italy (online version): “E il lupo europeo diventò un po’ cane…“, 19 June 2019

Teaching

Invited lectures

  • Donfrancesco, V. 2023. (Co-)making landscapes of coexistence: a political ecology perspective on human-wolf relations in Italy. Fitzwilliam College Geography Taster Programme, University of Cambridge, UK. Delivered 30/08/23

Undergraduate supervisions

  • Part IA Geography – People, Place and the Politics of Difference (section: Society, Environment and Sustainable Development) (2022-2023)
  • Part IB Geography – Living with Global Change (section: Environmental Futures) (2022-2023)
  • Part II Geography – Political Ecology in the Global South (section: Political Ecology of Conservation) (2022-2023)
  • Part II Zoology – Conservation Science (2021-2022)

Undergraduate dissertation methods supervisions

  • Non-representational, sensorial and experiential research methods (August 2023)

Field trip assistant

  • London’s Zoological Gardens and ZSL Conservation (Part II Geography – Political Ecology in the Global South), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (February 2024)
  • London’s Zoological Gardens and ZSL Conservation (Part II Geography – Political Ecology in the Global South), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (February 2023)

External activities

  • Department of Geography’s representative, University of Cambridge’s Open Days, Magdalene College (July 2023)
  • Undergraduate mentor, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2022-2023)
  • Co-lead, Political Ecology Research Group (July 2022 – June 2023)
  • Department of Geography’s representative, Cambridge Conservation Forum (April 2021 – present)
  • Consultative committee, ENhancing COexistence through SHaring (ENCOSH) (2018-2020)
  • Peer-review activity: Biological Conservation, Biodiversity and Conservation, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Wildlife Research, People and Nature, Scientific Reports, Zoology Research, abstract reviewer for Wolves Across Borders (2023) conference.