Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Welcome to the Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability and Resilience Institute at the University of Southampton!
This podcast explores the greatest and most wicked problem that is sustainability, whilst looking at how we are collectively addressing this critical global challenge.
Sustainability needs to be addressed by understanding how the economy, society, culture, politics and environment intersect, and this is the focus that informs each episode of the Meliora podcast.
In each episode, host Professor Simon Kemp and guest hosts are joined by a variety of guests, including academics, students, staff, researchers, alumni, community groups and business leaders.
The aim of the podcast is to shine a light on the vast range of topics surrounding sustainability and to allow listeners to learn about the critical challenges we face, as well as how they can be part of the solution. We also ensure our fantastic students have the opportunity to share their brilliant work with the world.
Podcast host: Professor Simon Kemp, Deputy Director of the Sustainability & Resilience Institute, University of Southampton
Podcast editors: Lily Killner, Sophie Green, Libby Kale, Jack Dinham, School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton
Please do get in touch to discuss this podcast and any of the issues we raise by emailing sri@soton.ac.uk
Follow us on instagram and X: @meliorapodcast
Meliora: a podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute
Billy Weir - Should we reintroduce Lynx to the United Kingdom? Discussing the potential locations and benefits of reintroducing the Eurasian Lynx to the UK.
In this episode of the Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute at the University of Southampton, we are joined by third-year BSc Environmental Science student Billy Weir for an exploration of his dissertation research titled: ‘Should we reintroduce Lynx to the United Kingdom? Discussing the potential locations and benefits of reintroducing the Eurasian Lynx to the UK'
The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-deprived countries in the world and is in dire need of restoration. Rewilding has come to the forefront of conservation and ecological restoration in recent years, and reintroductions of predators are important for restoring ecosystems and increasing biodiversity. Predators such as Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) are a good candidate for reintroduction to the UK. Eurasian Lynx would provide many ecological benefits, and potentially social and economic benefits too. This episode discusses these ecological benefits and impacts, as well as the practicality of a potential reintroduction of the species.
Useful papers:
Hawkins, S.A., Brady, D., Mayhew, M., Smith, D., Lipscombe, S., White, C., Eagle, A. and Convery, I. (2020). Community perspectives on the reintroduction of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) to the UK. Restoration Ecology, 28(6). doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13243
Johnson, R. and Greenwood, S. (2019). Assessing the ecological feasibility of reintroducing the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) to southern Scotland, England, and Wales. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01909-2.
The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2024 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.
Guest: Billy Weir (Third-Year BSc Environmental Science Student)
Host: Prof Simon Kemp
Editor: Lily Killner
If you are interested in engaging with more sustainability-related material take a look at both Instagram and X: @meliorapodcast
