EWA is directed by an interdisciplinary secretariat:
Dr Karen Park is EWA Director of Languages and Linguistics and Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include language change, documentation and maintenance, generative syntax, Austronesian languages, ethno-ornithology, and biocultural diversity and conservation. She was the principle organiser of the 2019 Intersections of Language and Nature Symposium (https://www.karenepark.com/copy-of-home-1) at the University of Pittsburgh encouraging collaboration between language documentation and conservation.
Dr Felice Wyndham is EWA Director of Ethnoecology and affiliate researcher at Oxford's School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. Her particular interest is ecological knowledge conservation in service of Indigenous peoples' and local communities' resource and land rights. Her recent writings are on narratives of deep historical ecologies in the Americas. As PI of a 2017-2019 British Academy funded project, she has developed EWA links to Ayoreo, Yshir, and other communities in Paraguay and Mexico. For more on her work see www.narratinglandscapes.net
Dr John Fanshawe is EWA’s principal link with BirdLife International, where he has been Senior Strategy Adviser since 2005. Before that he was Head of Policy and Advocacy at BirdLife 1998-2003, and Head of Development Programmes 1993-1995. As a Senior Strategy Advisor, he is coordinating a programme on birds, culture and conservation, including a series of collaborations with authors, artists and musicians. His work for EWA fits naturally within this portfolio. See also http://egi.zoo.ox.ac.uk/members/dr-john-fanshawe/
Dr Anant Deshwal is Director of EWA community programming and an Assistant Professor of Biology at Bradley University, IL. An experienced ecologist and an ornithologist, his focus has been conservation of avian community through the conservation of indigenous cultures and traditions. His research interests include perseverance and promotion of connection between nature and people through traditional ecological knowledge and natural history. See also: https://adeshwal.com
Prof Andrew Gosler is EWA Research Director at the University of Oxford, U.K., where he holds a position between the Dept. of Zoology and School of Anthropology as Professor of Ethno-ornithology. He was PI on an AHRC funded project to develop EWA in 2013. An experienced ecologist and teacher of field ornithology, his research focuses on the salience and power of bird names, and the causes and consequences of the growing disconnection of people from nature and the loss of natural history knowledge. See also http://egi.zoo.ox.ac.uk/members/dr-andrew-gosler/
EWA is also supported by a research group:
The EWA Research Group in the University of Oxford consists of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty members spanning the life and social sciences, currently in the departemnst/Schools of Anthropology, Geography and Zoology and with links to Modern Languages also. Graduate students are supervised and/or co-supervised by Prof. Andy Gosler (see secretariat above) who will be happy to hear from potential students with excellent interdisciplinary project proposals in line with EWA's ethos and mission statement. Please note that unless otherwise announced, the group has no funds to allocate to cover studentship costs.
EWA Advisors have been instrumental in guiding the inception and establishment of EWA:
2014-2020 Founding Advisors: Linda MacDonald, Thomas Thornton, Anne-Marie Wanamp, Candide Simard, William Merrill, Laura Rival, David Zeitlyn, David Nathan.
2020-2022 Launch Advisors: tba
We are especially indebted to the many supporters, funders, and developers who have helped make EWA over the years:
Funders: UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (2013-2015); Connected Communities (2015); Open World Research Initiative (2016-2020); La Murithienne (2015); British Academy Knowledge Frontiers (2018-2019); Oxford IAA Knowledge Exchange (2019)
Development: Ada Grabowska-Zhang (inception and first-phase design); Heidi Fletcher (founding web management); David Nathan (archiving consultant); Oxford InfoDev (founding programming); Pat Lockley (programming); Antonia Barreau-Daly (translations); Kanopi Studios (Mukurtu programming and design)
Many thanks to: Colin Wilkinson (of the RSPB, for logo design); Michel Desfayes (for sharing his thesaurus of bird names); Sarah Easton (volunteer intern); Roland Rickus (photo permissions); Monika Wyndham (graphic design)
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