Benedictus Freeman

Benedictus Freeman (Ben) was born and raised in Liberia. Ben currently teaches at the University of Liberia and coordinates U.S. Forest International Programs’ activities in Liberia. Ben has nearly 10 years’ worth of experience in biodiversity conservation, research, and capacity building. Ben’s research interests include conservation biology, forestry, ornithology, restoration ecology, ecotourism, biodiversity informatics, distributional ecology, and climate change biology. His cutting-edge research effort is centered on collecting and using primary biodiversity data to inform systematic conservation planning and decision-making, using approaches such as ecological niche modeling, GIS, Earth Observation/Remote Sensing, and other quantitative methods to understand the current and potential future distributions of species in response to climate and land-use changes that are used to inform spatial conservation planning. Ben is passionate about nature and mentoring young conservation leaders. He currently mentors students at the University of Liberia in conservation and ornithological research. When he is not working, you can find Ben birdwatching, gardening, or doing both! Ben holds a BSc degree in General Forestry from the University of Liberia, an MSc in Conservation Biology from the University of Jos, Nigeria, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas.