Dr. Sutton Lawrence is a graduate of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, where her dissertation, Conservation in the Human Landscape, analyzed case studies of leadership, management, and finance in global environmental initiatives. She received a B.S. in Biology from Howard University and an M.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. Her primary research focus is on best practices in African wildlife conservation and anti-wildlife trafficking efforts; secondarily, she is interested in global human-wildlife conflict, and especially in taking an anthropological approach to understanding the values and perceptions of human communities and their relationships to wildlife.

She has held previous policy positions at The Wildlife Society and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, and her research has been supported by The Explorers’ Club; National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative; and Sigma Xi. She is also the founder of Kedge Conservation, a social innovation startup that works to promote financial literacy, access, and equity in East & Southern Africa.