Dr Mayukh Chatterjee

I have been interested in wild animals since a very young age, and fortunately have been able to meander through different career choices to pursue this interest and make it (working for wildlife conservation) my main profession. Starting my academic career with a bachelors and masters in Anthropology, and then moving on to study primate behavioural ecology for my doctoral research, I decided to work towards conservation of wildlife species after witnessing the plethora of issues that plagued the wildlife of India, during my doctoral field work.

Therefore, for the last 13 years and continuing, I have worked on various issues pertaining to conservation of wildlife species and habitats. In my previous role in India, I developed and implemented long-term field projects to address the burgeoning issue of human wildlife conflicts, particularly involving large mammals such as tigers and elephants. Through these projects I have focussed on community participation and integration as the key strategy to ensure sustainable win-win solutions, safeguarding the interests of both humans and willdife.

I joined the Chester Zoo in 2022, as the Regional Field Programme Manager for Mainland Asia. In this role, I oversee the two long-term projects focussing on mitigating human-tiger and human-elephant conflicts, that I helped develop in India, and develop new conservation projects on species and landscapes in other parts of the continent.