Famous monkey-face ‘Dracula’ orchids are vanishing in the wild

Research Fellow
amy.hinsley@biology.ox.ac.uk https://x.com/orchiddelirium

Amy Hinsley

Background

Since an undergraduate project on orchids taught me about the huge lengths that fanatical 19th century orchid collectors would go to to get rare plants, I have been interested in the reasons why people choose to collect, trade and buy wildlife products. This led to me study the collection of plants in Cambodia for my MSc dissertation, and the use of the internet by traders and buyers in the international orchid trade for my PhD.

As well as academic research I have also worked for conservation organisations for several years in a range of roles, including reviewing grant applications, working on FFI Global Trees Campaign projects for threatened tree species, and analysing the UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database to inform policy makers.

Research Interests

tab-image

I am an interdisciplinary scientist applying machine learning and social science methods to understand and develop interventions to address the diversity of threats from the illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. My research focuses on how consumer behaviour, market dynamics, and regulatory changes influence the sustainability of wildlife trade. My current Schmidt AI in Science fellowship focusses on applying machine learning to ‘nowcast’ (produce near-term forecasts) the illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, developing predictive tools to address the data lag times that can hamper conservation decision-making. In addition, I am developing Bayesian Belief Network models to understand the range of factors that influence trade sustainability in medicinal plant markets, and inform decision making around the trade and harvest of different medicinal species. I also have an ongoing project, using machine learning to analyse patents related to wildlife products, to reveal trends in commercial interest and provide early warnings of shifts in commercial wildlife markets.

By combining cutting edge AI methods with quantitative and qualitative social science methods, I aim to ensure that wildlife trade policy is informed by robust evidence, that acknowledges the nuances and complexities of wildlife trade and what influences it. I collaborate widely with NGOs, policy makers, and other researchers, ensuring that my work bridges the gap between scientific research, conservation practice, and global policy frameworks, supporting evidence-based interventions for biodiversity protection. I have worked extensively on the trade in orchids, from my PhD investigating the online and social media illegal trade in orchid species, to my current role as Chair of the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group. In addition, I have conducted policy-driven research on the bear bile industry in China, where I explored how legal and illegal markets interact, using a mixed methods approach to understanding consumer demand in these complex markets. Before joining Oxford in 2017, I worked at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on projects related to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), providing technical support for policy decisions.

Brief CV

2015-2016             Programme Officer, Species Programme, UNEP WCMC, Cambridge

2014                      Project scientist, Rwanda Schools Orchid Project, Kitabe, Rwanda

2012-2016             PhD in Biodiversity Management. DICE, University of Kent. Title: Characterising the structure and formation of illegal wildlife                                     trade networks in an age of online communication.

2012-15                 Outreach Lecturer (part time), University of Kent, Canterbury

2008-12                 Programme Officer, Conservation Science, Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge

2007-08                 MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, University of Oxford Dissertation: Conservation implications of collection                                     and trade in wild plants in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, Cambodia.

2007                      Education volunteer (part time), ZSL London Zoo

2007                      Volunteer (two weeks), Kakapo Recovery Programme, Codfish Island, New Zealand

2005-07                 Fundraiser (various charities) (part time), London, UK

2003-06                 BSc (Hons) in Natural Sciences. University of Durham

Awards

  • Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bursaries for trips to learn about plant horticulture and trade in La Reunion and Madagascar (2013), South Africa (2014), and China and Hong Kong (2016).
  • RHS medals for educational displays at the RHS London Orchid Show in 2013 (Silver), 2014 (Silver-Gilt), 2015 (Silver),
  • Presentation prizes at World Orchid Conference (Johannesburg, 2014) and International Orchid Conservation Conference (Hong Kong, 2016).
  • Poster prizes at Student Conference on Conservation Science (Cambridge, 2016), and DICE ‘Future of Conservation’ Symposium (Canterbury, 2014).

Membership

IUCN SSC Global Trees Specialist Group

IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group

IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group Global Trade sub-group

Society for Conservation Biology

Published Papers

Hinsley et al. (2018) A review of the trade in orchids and its implications for conservation. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 186(4), 435-455. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/box083

Hinsley, A. & Roberts, D.L. (2018) The wild origin dilemma. Biological Conservation, 217, 203-206.

Williams, S.J., Gale, S.W., Hinsley, A., Gao, J. & St. John, F.A.V. (2018). Using consumer preferences to characterise the trade of wild‐collected ornamental orchids in China. Conservation Letters, 11(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12569

Challender, DWS., Hinsley, A., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2019) Inadequacies in establishing CITES trade bans. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17 (4), 199-200.

Hinsley, A., Keane, A., St. John, F.A., Ibbett, H. and Nuno, A. (2019) Asking sensitive questions using the Unmatched Count Technique: Applications and guidelines for conservation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Margulies, J., Bullough, L.-A., Hinsley, A., Ingram, D., Cowell, C., Goettsch, B., Klitgard, B., Lavorgna, A., Sinovas, P. and Phelps, J. (2019) Illegal wildlife trade and the persistence of plant blindness. Plants, People, Planet. (In Press)

Amy Hinsley and David L. Roberts. (2017)  Assessing the extent of access and benefit sharing in the wildlife trade: lessons from horticultural orchids in Southeast Asia. Environmental Conservation. Cambridge Core

Hinsley A, Sutherland WJ, Johnston A (2017) Men ask more questions than women at a scientific conference. PLoS ONE12(10): e0185534. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185534

Hinsley, A., Nuno, A., Ridout, M., Freya A.V. St John, & David L. Roberts. 2016. Estimating the Extent of CITES Noncompliance among Traders and End-Consumers; Lessons from the Global Orchid Trade. Conservation Letters. doi:10.1111/conl.12316

Hinsley, A., Lee, T.E., Harrison, J.R. and Roberts, D.L., 2016. Estimating the extent and structure of trade in horticultural orchids via social media. Conservation Biology. 30: 1038–1047. doi:10.1111/cobi.12721

Hinsley, A., King, E. and Sinovas, P., 2016. Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade by Improving Traceability: A Case Study of the Potential for Stable Isotope Analysis. The Geography of Environmental Crime, pp.91-119.

Hinsley, A., Verissimo, D. and Roberts, D.L., 2015. Heterogeneity in consumer preferences for orchids in international trade and the potential for the use of market research methods to study demand for wildlife. Biological Conservation, 190, pp.80-86.

Hinsley, A., Entwistle, A. and Pio, D.V., 2015. Does the long-term success of REDD+ also depend on biodiversity?. Oryx, 49(02), pp.216-221.

Hinsley, A., 2011. Notes on the trade of orchids in the Cardamom Mountains, Pursat and Koh Kong Provinces. Cambodian Journal of Natural History, p.11.

Posters

  • Student Conference on Conservation Science (Cambridge, 2016)
  • DICE ‘Future of Conservation’ Symposium (Canterbury, 2014).

Links

I co-chair the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group’s Global Trade sub-group. Our website is here