Conservation science at the RSPB uses research to protect birds, wildlife, and the habitats they depend on.
We have a team of almost 100 scientific and support staff who work together to design, fund, deliver and publish our research.
What makes us unique is how closely we work with conservation, advisory, and policy teams across our network of over 200 RSPB nature reserves and priority landscapes, as well as with BirdLife International partners overseas in our focal countries.
Conservation action at the RSPB is guided by our world-leading science. We put evidence at the heart of everything we do to achieve the best outcomes for nature and people. This means our research is often directly guided by conservation needs, answering the most urgent or difficult questions in nature conservation.
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We work collaboratively with individuals, land managers, charities, universities and government bodies in the UK and in focal countries abroad, to help deliver more ambitious and impactful projects. Here are just four of our largest and longest running partnerships:
Together, the RSPB, the University of Cambridge and nine other internationally focused conservation organisations collaborate through CCI to transform global understanding of biodiversity to secure a sustainable future for all life on earth. Learn more at cambridgeconservation.org
As part of CCI we also work on the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme, supporting science informed landscape-scale restoration through the Cairngorms Connect and Cumbria Connect partnerships.
The RSPB is the UK partner in BirdLife International, a global coalition of charities working to protect nature. Through this programme, the RSPB works with other BirdLife partners across the globe to deliver in-country conservation action with local actors to address urgent priorities.
Natural England (NE) and the RSPB have joined forces for over 20 years to help develop understanding, improve protection and work for the recovery of some of England’s most threatened birds.
The AfBiE partnership has brought about some huge successes such as the return of Bitterns and Red Kites. Much of NE’s funding contribution to this partnership currently comes from the Species Recovery Programme, part of the UK Government Wild Again Initiative.
Together with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) & Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the RSPB helps run, analyse and communicate multiple national bird monitoring programmes, some of which have been running for over 30 years, such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS), Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP), Scarce Breeding Bird Surveys (SBBS), BirdTrack, and Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP).
The RSPB offers a variety of exciting research projects for postgraduate students.
If you're passionate about conservation and currently enrolled in a UK-based MSc or PhD programme, we’d love to hear from you.
The information on this page was guided by the experts in our conservation science team. Jeremy Wilson, Director of science, says;
“The RSPB relies on the best available evidence to guide its conservation policy and practice and achieve the best outcomes for nature. Our Centre for Conservation Science works collaboratively across habitats and species, both in the UK and overseas, to provide this evidence, tackling critical conservation problems and testing the success of conservation actions.”
Get more research, reports, and citizen science from the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science
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RSPB is committed to strengthening evidence-based decision-making in conservation and proud to be a Conservation Evidence Champion
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