Co-Designing Conservation
ENVR-40019
Join the growing movement of environmental professionals working with their surrounding community to co-design the conservation programs that will impact those communities the most! Learn to psychology of how to build community members' long-term ownership and motivation for conservation by co-designing environmental programs with, not for, diverse communities. Catalyze the urgent and equitable community engagement needed to conserve biodiversity in our world today. Through detailed case studies of conservation projects that have effectively applied psychology to co-desgn, this course dives deep into stakeholder mapping, budgeting, iterative planning, and measuring effectivness to helps you to learn the seminal tenets of why and how to create inclusive conservation programming that will last long after the conservation organization leaves.
Students will learn the basic principles that underpin long-term engagement of stakeholders in the co-design of conservation programming with the community it will impact the most.
Learning Objectives:
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Understand why it is important to co-design conservation with (not for) communities
Demonstrate how to map stakeholders, budget, iteratively plan for, and measure the success of co-design projects within diverse communities
Explore analysis methods that help choose equitable engagement strategies
Practice engagement strategies and how to calculate which works best for your program
Identify how to define and measure success
Course Information
Course sessions
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This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.
Textbooks:
All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 7/21/2025
Schedule:
Instructor:
Kayla Cranston, Ph.D, Environmental Studies
Dr. Cranston is the Director of Conservation Psychology Strategy and Integration at Antioch University New England. In this position, she leads environmental professionals and surrounding communities through co-design processes to collaboratively create conservation programming with the humans who will be impacted by that programming the most. She designs and implements science-based strategy to increase long-term engagement in conservation programming with an eye to inclusive evaluation practices to promote a sustainable relationship between a diverse population of humans and nature. She leads the design and administration of a suite of professional development services aimed to build the capacity of conservation professionals to effectively integrate Conservation Psychology into their daily work.
Dr. Cranston recently served as Conservation Education Researcher at Saint Louis Zoo to lead evaluation of K-12 environmental education programs and an urban participatory asset mapping program there. Her research brings a psychological perspective to evaluating conservation education programming and the well-being of community members who are directly affected by local conservation projects. Dr. Cranston has shared her expertise in conservation psychology by teaching the topic to graduate and undergraduate students at Antioch University New England, Keene State College, UC San Diego Extended Studies, and Oregon State University. She has consulted with organizations like WWF, USFW, American Museum of Natural History, Woodland Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Detroit Zoo, Zoo New England, Zoological Society of London, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the Regional Network for Conservation Educators in the Albertine Rift, and the Tropical Biology Association to apply psychological principles and tools to strengthen conservation education programs and evaluate community engagement programs. Visit www.kaylacranston.com for more on the 5 Factors of Sustained Engagement framework Dr. Cranston created to integrate the science of human behavior into community engagement for biodiversity conservation.