We are very happy to welcome our new Fellow Visitor Sean Pears to the KLI.

Sean is currently pursuing his PhD at the Université de Bordeaux, France, under the supervision of Maël Lemoine. He received his Master´s degree in Philosophy in Biology and Medicine from Dalhousie University, Canada.

He will be in KLI for two months, from September 1 to October 31, 2024. 

During his time at the KLI, Sean will be working on his project titled, ‘Reintegrating Restoration Ecology with Eco-Evo-Devo’.

Restoration Ecology has been receiving a lot of attention in the recent past, even as the United Nations declared this decade from 2021-2030 as the Decade of Restoration Ecology. However, many projects are less successful than necessary. While tradtinal approaches have been mostly gene-centric, Sean explores the potential role of eco-evo-devo concepts in determining the success of such restorartion attempts. Sean’s KLI project focusses on the lack of connection between restoration practice and evolutionary theory as a possible explanation for the low success rate of restorartion projects.

Several theories and frameworks are available to guide restoration projects so that they are not only effective in the long run, but are relevant to the immediate challenges of climate-change. However, with resources available for such project being limited, there are ‘contextual restrictions on the theories and conceptual frameworks one ought to use to guide interventions’. Sean’s KLI project asks: Which theoretical considerations have been employed in past restoration attempts that may have led to their failure, and which theoretical choices ought to be made to guide successful interventions?

Let’s get to know more about Sean and his project in the coming days.

A very warm welcome again Sean. Here’s wishing you all the best for a wonderful time at the KLI and in Austria.