Jonathan Carruthers-Jones

Jonathan’s research interests are focused around understanding the complex issues which surround human-nature interactions in wild spaces and how they relate to the long-term success of nature conservation. Within this framework he also explores the potential of nature-based solutions, natural process protection and functional connectivity in mountainous regions. He is especially interested in how scientific knowledge can be validated, using ground truthing, and combined in complex real-world protected area scenarios with information from inclusive participatory processes.

Jonathan is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds as part of the ENHANCE ITN. Within the programme he explores how we can improve decision making on the protection of wild spaces and species within the remote and mountainous areas of Europe using a range of participatory tools, visual methods and integrated in-situ mapping methods. His research sites are in the Scottish Highlands, the French Pyrénées, the Swedish and Finnish Arctic.

He is a research associate with the Wildland Research Institute (WRi) working on developing national-level mapping of areas of 'high naturalness' within France in conjunction with the French committee of the IUCN. He is a member of the IUCN-WCPA Mountains Biome Network, a postgraduate Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the wilderness working group of French IUCN « Wilderness et nature férale »

In 2013 won the Postgraduate Dissertation Prize of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)’s Planning and Environment Research Group.