Leo Douglas

Leo R. Douglas

Clinical Associate Professor

Leo Douglas is a Clinical Associate Professor at Liberal Studies.  He is also the 2023-2024 Director of the Caribbean Initiative within NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS). He received his Ph.D., a Masters of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, and an Advanced Environmental Policy Certificate from Columbia University. He also holds a Masters of Philosophy degree in Zoology from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. He is a past-president of BirdsCaribbean, the largest single international NGO focusing on the flora and fauna of the greater Caribbean region. He is a former board member of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). His previous professional experiences include work as the Executive Director of BirdLife Jamaica, and a manager for the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID-Jamaica) Ridge to Reef Sustainable Watersheds Project for four years. He describes his work as “Nature & Society Geography” as it lies within the complex nexus of human-environment relationships with space, place, biodiversity and social identities. His research has been published in the journals Biodiversity and Conservation, Biotropica, Environment and Society, The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, and Biological Conservation. His publications include “A Teacher’s Guide to the Birds of Jamaica.” He is a former Fulbright OAS Scholar, Government of Jamaica Millennium Scholar, Musgrave Medal Winner - for Distinguished Eminence in the Field of Science, a Partners in Flight (PIF) Leadership Award Winner - for Outstanding Contribution to Bird Conservation, a 2021 NYU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award Recipient, and a 2022 NYU Faculty Fellow-in-Residence (FFIR).

Education

Ph.D. – Columbia University
Advanced Certificate in Environmental Policy – Columbia University
M.Sc. – Columbia University
M.Phil. – University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica   

Teaching and Research Interests

Natural Resource-based Conflict; Sustainable Land Management; Behavior-Change; Conservation Biology; Environmental & Racial Justice

Selected Honors and Awards

2022 – 2026 NYU Faculty Fellow in Residence (FFIR) - Broome Hall

2022 – NYU Center for the Humanities Two-Year Working Group Grant Recipient

2022 – NYU Arts & Science Teaching Innovation Award

2021 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award

2021 – NYU Arts & Science Teaching Innovation Award

2018 – Musgrave Medal, for Distinguished Eminence in the Field of Science

2016 – Partners in Flight (PIF) Leadership Award, for Outstanding Contribution to Bird Conservation

2010 – Best Oral Presentation Award: Student Conference on Conservation Science New York (SCCS-NY)

2004 – Fulbright OAS Ecology Scholar

2001 – Government of Jamaica Millennium Scholar

2001 – Best Oral Presentation Award: University of the West Indies, Faculty of Pure & Applied Sciences, Fifth Conference

 

Selected Publications

Douglas, L.R. & Alie, K. (2014) "High-value natural resources: linking wildlife conservation to international conflict, insecurity, and development concerns." Biological Conservation, 171, 270–277.

Douglas, L.R. & Winkel, G. (2014) "The Flipside of the Flagship." Biodiversity & Conservation, 23, 979–997.

Douglas, L.R. & Veríssimo, D. (2013) "Flagships or Battleships—Deconstructing the relationship between social conflict and conservation flagship species." Environment and Society: Advances in Research, 4, 98–116.

Douglas, L.R., Winkel, G. & Sherry, T.W. (2013) "Does the Bananaquit Benefit Commensally from Parrot Frugivory? An Assessment Using Habitat Quality." Biotropica, 45, 457–464.

Root-Bernstein, M., Douglas, L.R., Smith, A. & Veríssimo, A. (2013) "Anthropomorphized species as tools for conservation: Utility beyond prosocial, intelligent and suffering species." Biodiversity & Conservation, 22, 1577–1589.