Cynthia Malone wins Oxford DPhil spot to reframe conservation science

New York conservation scientist Cynthia Malone has been accepted to Oxford to study riverine ecosystems in Guyana through a project centered on Black and Indigenous knowledge. The research lands as climate threats intensify in Guyana and as Malone seeks support for her first year at Oxford.

Why it matters: - Cynthia Malone's Oxford DPhil could shape how conservation science studies river systems by centering Black and Indigenous expertise. - The research focuses on Guyana, where climate change, sea-level rise and rapid development are colliding with some of the world's most biodiverse tropical forests. - Malone's acceptance also highlights the access gap in elite graduate programs, where Black students remain underrepresented.

What happened: - Cynthia Malone, a New York City-born wildlife ecologist and conservation scientist, was accepted to the University of Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment for a Doctor of Philosophy degree. - Malone's project is titled "Decolonizing the Wild in the Land of Many Waters." - The study will examine riverine ecosystems in Guyana, from interior forests to the coastline. - Malone is the first in her immediate family to graduate university. - Malone is also a Grist Magazine "Fixer" and an incoming Oxford DPhil candidate.

The details: - Malone has spent more than 15 years researching wildlife and applied conservation science across three continents. - Her fieldwork has included tracking orangutans in Borneo's peatswamp forests. - Malone also managed human-wildlife conflict in Cameroon. - In the Solomon Islands, Malone supported biocultural stewardship with Indigenous communities. - The project will use ecology, historical archives and epistemic repair to build a new account of Guyana's natural history. - Oxford resources central to the work include colonial maps of Guyanese plantation estates at the Bodleian Library and wildlife specimens from Guyana at the Natural History Museum. - Guyana's forests cover 80 percent of the country's surface. - The country discovered mass oil reserves in 2015, triggering a major economic shift. - Georgetown, Guyana's capital, is projected to face submersion within five to ten years because of rising sea levels. - Malone said true conservation requires a new approach to environmental science centered on local and Indigenous expertise. - Malone also said diverse perspectives are needed to fight climate-driven ecological collapse.

Between the lines: - The project positions conservation science as a field that still carries colonial assumptions about who produces valid knowledge. - Malone's work suggests environmental research and climate adaptation will be weaker if they exclude the communities most affected by ecosystem change. - Oxford's archival collections give the project access to material that connects modern ecology with colonial land history. - Malone's visibility as one of Grist Magazine's 50 "Fixers" and a published essayist has already helped frame her work inside a broader equity-in-science movement.

What's next: - Malone has launched a fundraising campaign to cover her first year at Oxford. - The campaign is aimed at international tuition, visa fees, healthcare surcharges and relocation costs. - Supporters can find more information about the campaign. - Malone will begin her doctoral research at Oxford as an incoming DPhil student.

The bottom line: - Malone's Oxford acceptance is both a milestone for her career and a test case for whether conservation science can better include Black and Indigenous knowledge in climate research.