Dr Jacqui Wilmshurst
Research Student
School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care
Biography
Professional biography
What does my own lived and embodied experience of wildlife care reveal about the wider cultural narratives and influences on wildlife care and nature connection in urban ecosystems in the UK?
What do I learn from caring for, and being in relationship with, individual wild animals the that study of species and ecosystems from 'the outside' does not reveal?
What ethical questions are raised by caring for permanently captive wild-born wild animals, and how can I contribute to addressing them?
How can exploring these questions translate to real world impact - for example by informing education and outreach in urban wildlife care and nature connection?
Using multispecies autoethnography and narrative inquiry, my research explores interrelated personal and cultural histories in urban Britain as they apply to care for wild animals, and to how meaning is made and stories are told about our relationships with and within 'nature'.
In particular, I look at how caring for the 'wrong' wildlife can bring insight and valuable contributions to understanding care, kinship, and connection towards improved collective wellbeing in urban ecosystems.
As an autoethnographer I bring a range of roles and identities to the stories, and the meaning-making, including licenced wildlife sanctuary owner, environmental and conservation psychologist, health & wellbeing consultant, and urban dweller.
I have a previous academic background in the health and environmental psychology, exploring human-environment relationships as applied to natural hazards and climate change, cultural framings of risk, and nature-relating in 'at-risk' communities. Other 'ways of knowing' were embraced alongside conventional scientific and academic enquiry.
In addition to my work as an academic, I was previously an officer in the British Army (retired as Captain) and a leader in mental health and wellbeing in large complex organisations including the BBC, Meta and TikTok. I am a Chartered Member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Socety, in the Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology.
I run a small sanctuary, Nala's Nook, specialising in the care of permanently captive grey squirrels and corvids, from my home in East Yorkshire.
www.jacquiwilmshurst.com
Research interests
Human-Wildlife Relationships
Nature Connectedness
Narrative Inquiry
Anthrozoology
Multispecies Methodology
Multispecies Care Ethics
Animal Ethics
Animal Welfare
Wellbeing and Resilience
Teaching interests
Nature Connectedness and Nature-Relating
Nature-Stories
Animal Ethics
Environmental & Conservation Psychology
Health & Wellbeing
Urban Wildbeing
