HARTPURY_POSTGRADUATE_PROSPECTUS_2023

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www.hartpury.ac.uk/aarc

DOING IT

DIFFERENTLY We focus on howwe can use our skills today to influence tomorrow, protecting

hedgehogs may soon be out of harm’s way. Lucy and her team of students and industry partners are working with Henry, a rescue ‘detection dog' trained by Conservation K9 Consultancy, to sniff out hedgehogs before development projects begin. Once detected, their habitat can be protected or the hedgehogs can be moved to safety before its cleared. Resetting the natural world The results from trials have been astounding. Henry, whose sense of smell is 100,000 times more sensitive than a human's, has been exceptional at locating nesting hedgehogs swiftly without disturbing them. Media and public interest has resulted in Lucy and her team featuring in national and local media including the BBC’s The One Show. The team is now progressing further studies to develop this safe and sustainable method to help protect this much-loved British creature.

UKwildlife through rewilding and encouraging biodiversity in linewith natural dynamics. For example, we're finding new innovativeways to prevent hedgehog populations fromdeclining as a result of increasing urbanisation in the modernworld, and are proud that our research in this area has been recognised in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework as 'world leading' and 'internationally excellent'. Identifying prickly problems Despite being voted Britain’s favourite mammal by the Royal Society of Biology (2020), hedgehog numbers in Britain are in decline, with a 50% drop in the past decade alone due to loss of habitat from urban development. As hedgehogs spend about 85% of their lifetimes nesting in dense undergrowth and long grass, they’re in danger whenever land is cleared. Thinking differently Thanks to Hartpury’s resident hedgehog expert, Dr Lucy Bearman-Brown, these

Our research partners

Our master’s and PhD students get involved with research projects inside and outside their studies through dissertations, module briefs and voluntary roles .