Lecturer, School of Geography and Sustainable Development
Biography
Lydia is a conservation ecologist, interested in how ecosystems, in particular peatlands, can be managed sustainably under contemporary pressures. Past and current projects, involving time in both academia and industry, include: creating remote monitoring tools for UK peatlands; reconstructing past vegetation change and assessing future prospects for Malaysia’s coastal peatlands; exploring human-wildlife interaction in northeast India, and human-peatland interaction in the Peruvian Amazon; and investigating the challenges of peatland restoration in rural Scotland. She’s an advocate for finding co-designed solutions to local challenges. Lydia is a lecturer in Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews and Deputy Director of postgraduate programme: Data Literacy for Social and Environmental Justice. She’s Chair of the British Ecological Society’s Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Peatland Society. Outside of work, Lydia is usually on her bike, up a hill, or in the sea.
Selected publications
Promise of private finance is blocking peatland restoration Cole, L. E. S., Helmcke, C. & Jenkins, E., 14 Nov 2023, In: Nature. 623, p. 483
The three-peat challenge: business as usual, responsible agriculture, and conservation and restoration as management trajectories in global peatlands. Girkin, N. T., Burgess, P. J., Cole, L., Cooper, H. V., Honorio Coronado, E., Davidson, S. J., … & Young, D. (2023). Carbon management, 14(1), 2275578.
Tropical peatlands in the anthropocene: lessons from the past Cole, L. E. S., Åkesson, C., Hapsari, K. A., Hawthorne, D., Roucoux, K., Girkin, N. T., Cooper, H. V., Ledger, M. J., O’Reilly, P. & Thornton, S. A., Mar 2022, In: Anthropocene. 37, 17 p., 100324.
The future of Southeast Asia’s tropical peatlands: local and global perspectives Cole, L. E. S., Willis, K. J. & Bhagwat, S. A., Jun 2021, In: Anthropocene. 34, 100292.
Guides to Better Science: Interdisciplinary research Cole, L. E. S. & Davies, A., 2021, British Ecological Society.
Tropical peatlands and their conservation are important in the context of COVID-19 and potential future (zoonotic) disease pandemics Harrison, M. E., Wijedasa, L. S., Cole, L. E. S., Cheyne, S. M., Choiruzzad, S. A. B., Chua, L., Dargie, G. C., Ewango, C. E. N., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Ifo, S. A., Imron, M. A., Kopansky, D., Lestarisa, T., O’Reilly, P. J., Van Offelen, J., Refisch, J., Roucoux, K., Sugardjito, J., Thornton, S. A., Upton, C. & 2 others, , 17 Nov 2020, In: PeerJ. 8, 43 p., e10283.
Modelling wildlife corridors: a tool for creating habitat in fragmented landscapes Cole, L. E. S., Sep 2019, Biological Sciences Review, 32, 1, p. 22-26 5 p.
Tropical forest and peatland conservation in Indonesia: Challenges and directions Harrison, M. E., Ottay, J. B., D’Arcy, L. J., Cheyne, S. M., ., A., Belcher, C., Cole, L., Dohong, A., Ermiasi, Y., Feldpausch, T., Gallego-Sala, A., Gunawan, A., Höing, A., Husson, S. J., Kulu, I. P., Soebagio, S. M., Mang, S., Mercado, L., Morrogh-Bernard, H. C., Page, S. E. & 11 others, , 19 Nov 2019, In: People and Nature. Early View, 25 p.
“Pushing the limits”: experiences of women in tropical peatland research Thornton, S., Cook, S., Astiani, D., Hapsari, K., Varkkey, H., Cole, L., Dargie, G., Sjogersten, S., Zawawi, N. & Page, S., 24 Sep 2019, In: Marine and Freshwater Research. Online Early, MF19132.
