EDUCATION
Ph.D., School of the Environment & Department of Anthropology, Yale University
MPhil, Anthropology and Environment, Yale University
MESc, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
B.S., School of Life Sciences, Peking University
BIO
Dr. Yufang Gao is a conservation scientist and environmental anthropologist passionate about integrating knowledge and practice for human-wildlife coexistence in healthy environments. He is currently a research affiliate with the Yale InterAsia Initiative. His research focuses on the ecological, sociopolitical, and cultural dimensions of human-wildlife interactions. He has worked with many international, national, and local organizations on various wildlife conservation projects, mainly in the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas, and East Africa. His work has been recognized by the National Geographic Emerging Explorers Award, Marsh Award for Terrestrial Conservation Leadership, Roy A. Rappaport Prize in Environmental Anthropology, and Yale Graduate School Public Scholar Award, among others. He is the founder and director of Conservation Edgewalker, an initiative that aims to engage and empower early-career Chinese conservationists. Additionally, he serves as the Secretary-General of the IUCN China Species Specialist Group.
Keywords: wildlife conservation; multispecies ethnography; religion and ecology; Buddhism; illegal wildlife trade; policy sciences; Tibetan Plateau; Himalayas; China
RECENT PUBLICATION
Gao, Y., & Clark, S. G. (2024). A practical guide to understanding the context of human-wildlife coexistence. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 1-12.
Gao, Y., Wang, Y., Lee, A. T., Liu, Y., Luo, Y., Orrick, K., … & Clark, S. G. (2023). Contextualizing sociodemographic differences in Tibetan attitudes toward large carnivores. Conservation Science and Practice, 5(12), e13049.
Gao, Y., Liu, Y., Luo, Y., Biggs, D., Zhao, W., & Clark, S. G. (2023). Tracking Chinese newspaper coverage of elephant ivory through topic modeling. Conservation Biology, 37(5), e14072.
Gao, Y., Lambert, A., & Clark, S. (2023). Grand strategy for human–wildlife coexistence. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 21(7), 308-309.
Gao, Y., & Clark, S. G. (2023). An interdisciplinary conception of human-wildlife coexistence. Journal for Nature Conservation, 73, 126370.
Gao, Y., Lee, A. T., Luo, Y., Alexander, J. S., Shi, X., Sangpo, T., & Clark, S. G. (2023). Large carnivore encounters through the lens of mobile videos on social media. Conservation Science and Practice, 5(3), e12907.