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IN MEMORY -- SIMON THIRGOOD

Professor Simon Thirgood, renowned conservation biologist and conservationist, was killed on 30 August 2009 when a building collapsed in a storm in northern Ethiopia. His death was tragic, unexpected, and untimely (he was just 46), but he packed a lot into his life and his multiple contributions to conservation will leave an enduring legacy.

Born in Liberia and raised in Canada, Simon studied zoology at the University of Aberdeen before completing a Ph.D. on fallow deer mating strategies at Southampton University, and a post-doc at Cambridge on black lechwe lekking in Zambia. Rather than pursuing an academic career in behavioral ecology, however, Simon moved into conservation and wildlife management, working for Birdlife International and then the Game Conservancy Trust (now the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust). At the Conservancy, Simon developed, in collaboration with Steve Redpath, some of his best-known work on human-wildlife conflicts resulting from hen harrier predation on red grouse on Scottish moorlands. This body of work changed both the policy and practice of conservation management of raptors and gamebirds, and is now used as a case study to illustrate how best to integrate good science into policy and management. It was while working at the Game Conservancy that Simon started to work closely with Karen Laurenson, a disease ecologist newly returned from Africa, whom he later married.

Despite his love of the Scottish mountains, Simon missed Africa. When Karen's work took her to the Ethiopian highlands, Simon soon started accompanying her, and began research on the conservation and ecology of wildlife in the region. A later move to the Centre for Conservation Science at the University of Stirling allowed him the flexibility to expand his work in Africa, and he also started supervising the first of many African post-graduate students. In 2003, now with a young family, Simon and Karen moved back to Africa full-time, where they managed projects Africa-wide for Frankfurt Zoological Society from a base in the middle of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Simon became a popular figure in the small Serengeti community, maintaining good humor in the face of the many challenges, and providing a welcoming wee dram in times of adversity. During this time, Simon became increasingly concerned with the need for capacity development and training in conservation science in the countries where he worked. However, although they loved their life in Serengeti, raising children in the middle of one of the largest wilderness areas in Africa was not without its difficulties, and the need for schools brought the family back to their beloved Scotland, where Simon became Head of Ecology at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen.

Simon was committed to achieving conservation through good science, and accumulated an impressive publication record, made more remarkable since most of his career was spent outside the university system. He was intolerant of self-importance, and was delighted when his scholarly book on resolving conflicts between people and wildlife (jointly edited with RW) inexplicably won an award for children's literature. Simon was something of a fixture at SCB annual meetings, usually running a workshop or symposium, and always keen to continue discussions in whichever bar stayed open latest. A keen outdoorsman, Simon had a well-developed sense of fun, which he applied to work as well as pleasure, and he reveled in the practical side of conservation. Always an excellent communicator, he was able to make complex information easily accessible, skills that made him popular with students. In fact, so accomplished were his communication skills that he once managed to communicate nonstop for two full days on a long journey over bad roads from Tanzania's Rubondo Island to Serengeti.

In his recent projects, Simon started to address the need for development of sustainable capacity within African wildlife institutions. He recognized that developing country staff face considerable obstacles in accessing international funding and conducting scientific research, and saw capacity development in conservation science as crucial to address these challenges. From his own experience, he believed trained African conservation scientists were key to ensuring more effective conservation policies and management. He established major capacity development projects within the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, and generously gave his time and support to many promising scientists working within these institutions. Thanks to Simon's efforts, the world has better tools to resolve conflicts between people and wildlife, better information to manage uplands, and better-trained conservation biologists in Britain and Africa. It is a great loss to conservation that we can no longer benefit from his unique blend of sound science, straightforward communication, and enthusiasm.

At the time of his death, Simon was working on a project, funded by the UK's Darwin Initiative, to build capacity for biodiversity conservation in the highlands of Ethiopia. Simon died while doing one of the things he loved: sitting by a fireside in the mountains, swapping stories with an African colleague who was also a long time friend. Others that he loved -- particularly his wife, Karen, and daughters Pippa and Katie -- are left behind. Hopefully, through his efforts, the landscapes and wildlife to which he dedicated his life's work will be left behind for many years to come.

In lasting memory.

Rosie Woodroffe & Sarah Durant, Institute of Zoology, London

In Simon's memory, a scholarship has been established for children in Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia to attend a local secondary school. Donations are being channeled via the Born Free Foundation, www.justgiving.com/Simon-Thirgood

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