Katie Lois Hutchinson

State-educated, female PhD researcher at Oxford

Katie is a third year DPhil Biology researcher, working within the Nature based Solutions Initiative (NbSI) at the University of Oxford.

Her research focusses specifically on Climate Change Adaptation and the ways in which NbS can help those in the Tropical Andean region of South America adapt to the challenges that they are facing, with a particular focus on alterations of ecosystem health. Working alongside Indigenous communities on the eastern Andes-Amazon border in Ecuador, and employing various methods (interviews and focus groups with local communities, bioacoustic analysis, camera traps and invertebrate activity analysis), Katie’s work aims to demonstrate the potential of NbS, and explore how species, ecosystems and communities are responding to their implementation.

Katie also holds a first-class bachelors degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham and has previously consulted for the ILO, UNEP and IUCN, as well as worked with the RSPB, London Wildlife Trust and RSPCA. Aside from research, Katie is passionate about outreach and advocates for equality in higher education, regardless of background. As part of this, she runs an online blog dedicated to sharing her experience as a state-school educated woman in science, @phdwithkatie.

Katie can discuss many topics, including state education, PhD life, biology and science, being a woman in science, content creation, and more. Also passionate about equality and inclusion and adventuring within her work in the Amazon rainforest, Katie has frequently spoken publicly about these topics too.