Joss Lyons-White

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Conservation and Development Lab at the University of Cambridge.

My research is focused on tropical deforestation caused by the expanding production of agricultural commodities such as palm oil. In particular, I am interested in the role played by private-sector commitments to "zero deforestation". I began my postdoctoral research in the Environmental Policy Lab at ETH Zurich, and received my PhD from Imperial College London. In my PhD, I used techniques from systems thinking to explore options for improving the sustainability of agricultural commodity production systems. Specifically, I applied a methodology called Critical Systems Heuristics to investigate issues surrounding the use of zero deforestation commitments in Gabon and Liberia. My research has been published in journals including Global Environmental Change, One Earth and Land Use Policy, and covered in media including The Independent, Mongabay, and The Conversation.

Before undertaking my PhD, I completed a BA in Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Oxford and an MSc in Conservation Science at Imperial College London. I have also worked on private-sector conservation at the HCV Resource Network and, before undertaking my MSc, spent 5 years working in scientific communications.