During her PhD at KITLV, Stacey Mac Donald combined academic research with participatory action research on the social and psychological processes shaping nature conservation in the Caribbean. Today she applies that same approach from a different position: as project lead at the Caribbean Cetacean Society, an NGO working on the conservation of whales and dolphins. In this seminar she reflects on what changes when a researcher is no longer "independent" but works on behalf of an organisation with its own conservation goals, and what does not.

Drawing on concrete cases, including an evaluation of the Southern Caribbean Upwelling System Important Marine Mammal Area across Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Colombia, and work towards marine protected areas in Curacao, she shows how stakeholder interviews, validation workshops and community engagement sit alongside ecological fieldwork. As the only social scientist in a team of marine biologists and ecologists, she brings the human and governance dimensions into a field that increasingly recognises that evidence-based management only works with local support. She will discuss how she continues to publish jointly with natural scientists, what a social science background adds to conservation practice, and the opportunities and tensions of transdisciplinary research and societal action, as well as how her time at KITLV shaped this path.

Speaker

Stacey Mac Donald was born and raised in Curaçao and has long been fascinated by the connection between people and their environment. She holds a PhD in the social sciences, completed at KITLV, on the underlying social and psychological processes that influence nature conservation in the Caribbean. Her work focuses on facilitating locally driven, inclusive conservation management processes that involve all layers of the community. She has worked with WWF and currently works with the Caribbean Cetacean Society, where she leads projects on community engagement, fisheries management, governance and species protection in the Caribbean. She continues to publish co-authored scientific articles on cetacean research and marine protected areas, as well as chapters in edited volumes.

Moderator

Rosemarijn Hoefte is a historian specialized in the Caribbean. She is Professor in the history of Suriname after 1873 in comparative perspective at the University of Amsterdam. Her main research interests are the history of postabolition Suriname, migration and unfree labor, contemporary Caribbean history, and nation building and nation branding in postcolonial states.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 4 June from 15.30–17.00 PM (CET).  

Anniversary Seminar Series

In 2026, KITLV celebrates its 175th anniversary. The Members’ Association / Vereniging KITLV and the Institute KITLV are organizing an Anniversary Seminar Series to mark the occasion.

In the Anniversary Seminar Series, we invite people who have worked at KITLV in the past 25 years, visited us as fellows, or have been involved in joint research projects. Naturally, we strive to cover our wide range of disciplines, topics, and backgrounds. We invite speakers to present current or recent research to an audience of academics and others who are interested. Reflections on whether and how the connection with KITLV has led to or influenced that research are welcome. To cater to an international audience, the series will be in English and can be attended both physically and digitally.

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Source: Caribbean Cetacean Society.