Event / 

How is the pandemic shaping conservation technology?

Join us on Thursday, September 23rd at 11 AM ET/4 PM BST for our Community Call panel discussion with Ted Schmitt and Jes Lefcourt of the Allen Institute for AI and our own Talia Speaker, who will discuss the question, "How is the pandemic shaping conservation technology?" In this session, we'll learn about the findings of their WILDLABS-supported research on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted conservation tech work and what this means for the future. RSVP to join this session here.

Online Event

About the Series

Welcome to the third season of WILDLABS Tech Tutors, the series that answers the "how do I do that?" questions of conservation tech! Brought to you with the support of Microsoft AI for Earth, Tech Tutors is made for conservation tech beginners of all knowledge levels (and yes, even experts can still be beginners when it comes to tackling a new aspect of conservation tech or starting a new project.). Our Tech Tutors will give you the bite-sized, easy-to-understand building blocks you'll need to try new conservation technology, enhance your research, DIY a project for the first time, or simply explore the possibilities. 

Taking place every Thursday, each Tech Tutor will present a 30 minute tutorial guiding you through an aspect of conservation tech, followed by a 30 minute live Q&A session with the audience.

What do you gain as a Tech Tutors participant? You'll leave each episode with the confidence to build on the skills discussed in these tutorials, and you'll have an ongoing opportunity to learn and collaborate with other members of the WILDLABS community! The connections made through the past seasons of Tech Tutors have led to real projects and results, and our third season is set to introduce you to even more new ideas and community members who are ready to start something new! 

Can't make it to an episode this season? Don't worry! You can find every tutorial after it airs on our Youtube channel, and you can collaborate and ask questions in each episode's thread on the WILDLABS Tech Tutors forum.

Want to catch up on Tech Tutors Seasons One and Two? Find links to our episodes' recordings and resources here and here.

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Meet Your Panelists: Ted Schmitt, Jes Lefcourt, and Talia Speaker

Ted Schmitt is the Director, Conservation and Product Manager for Skylight at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). For over ten years, Ted has worked to bring fit-for-purpose technology solutions to terrestrial and marine Conservation. Ted was a Program Officer for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board at the US National Academies of Science. He was Business Development Director at start-ups in Germany, Sweden, and the US. He started his career as a software engineer for IBM. Ted earned an MA in Science & Technology Policy from George Washington University, a BS in Electrical Engineering, and a BA in German from Purdue University.

Jes Lefcourt is the Director of Conservation Technology at AI2, where he leads the EarthRanger program to create software to help protected area managers, ecologists, and biologists monitor areas of interest and make operational decisions for wildlife conservation. He's from Boulder, Colorado where he studied applied math and computer science at the University of Colorado. In his early career, Jes worked for Lockheed Martin simulating systems of the Atlas V launch vehicle, Sun Microsystems automating complex, multi-organizational processes, and then co-led the startup Verical, a marketplace to prevent excess electronic components from being discarded into landfills. After selling Verical to Arrow Electronics, Jes joined the National Geographic Society, where he led Digital Product efforts, before then moving to EarthRanger. In his off-time, Jes enjoys hiking, skiing and photography.

Talia Speaker is the WILDLABS Program Officer at World Wildlife Fund. Currently working from Boulder, Colorado, she leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on synthesizing insights from our global community to inform more effective development and adoption of conservation technologies. Previously, Talia has worked in both the ecological and human dimensions of conservation science, including researching the effectiveness of community-based wildlife conservation areas in Tanzania, studying puma ecology and behavior in her hometown of Santa Cruz, California, and working with the TRAFFIC-US team on projects to address the global illegal wildlife trade. Talia received her BA in Organismal Biology from Scripps College and her MSc in Global Environmental Leadership from Colorado State University.

What will I learn in this episode?

In this panel event, you will learn about how conservation technologies enabled conservationists to adapt and respond to unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, and how the lessons learned from this process can help inform efforts to increase resilience in the face of future crises. We'll also look at how these results echo and build on our findings from WILDLABS' global State of Conservation Technology research, which illuminates community-sourced insights into the systemic constraints affecting progress and opportunities for advancing the field at a time when effective tools are urgently needed.

How can I learn more about this subject? 

Ahead of the discussion, check out this report highlighting findings from recent research about conservation tech during the pandemic. This research was a joint effort by the EarthRanger, Skylight, and WILDLABS teams.

Are you ready to learn with Ted and Jes? Register here to join this community call here!

Learn more about our upcoming Tech Tutorials

Our regular Tech Tutors episodes will return on October 7th. Visit the series page on WILDLABS to find the full list of WILDLABS Tech Tutors.

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