The event was held in collaboration with the University of Oxford, with leading Oxford academics joining as mentors and participants.

The ICN provided a unique platform for early career researchers from around the world to develop skills, build networks, and collaborate on innovative, real-world conservation research. The 2025 workshop was presented in a hybrid format, combining a week-long in-person session in George with virtual meetings before and after the event.

“It was incredible to have such a dynamic and diverse group of early career researchers from across the globe here in George. Just 30 were selected from nearly 200 applicants, and it was inspiring to see such excellence and collaboration in action. I believe this event will have a lasting impact on individuals for years to come, and I am excited about the outputs that will emerge from it”, said Dr Tim Kuiper, Senior Lecturer at Nelson Mandela University and one of the organisers.

Participants hailed from Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Peru, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, reflecting the truly global nature of the initiative.

Three Themes, One Goal: Building a More Just and Inclusive Future for Conservation

ICN 2025 focused on three key research themes addressing some of the most pressing challenges in global conservation today:

• Advancing inclusive conservation through intersectionality exploring how gender, culture, power, and identity shape conservation outcomes, and identifying ways to make conservation more inclusive and effective.
• Navigating conflicts in area-based conservation examining tensions that arise when conservation areas overlap with communities’ livelihoods and land rights, and developing equitable, community-centred solutions.
• Just conservation: reimagining equity, diversity, and inclusion in conservation careers challenging barriers that limit access to opportunities, and experimenting with fairer, lower-carbon ways of working and collaborating.

Participants worked in interdisciplinary teams to develop shared research outputs, including opinion pieces and journal papers aimed at shaping future conservation policy and practice.

A Local Hub with Global Reach

For the George Campus community and the wider Garden Route region, hosting ICN 2025 was more than an academic milestone it was an opportunity to position African researchers and landscapes at the centre of global conservation dialogues.

“This was not just about bringing the world to George,” organisers reflected. “It was about showing that meaningful, world-class research can be led from here by people rooted in this place and passionate about sustainable futures.”

The workshop successfully brought together participants from across Africa and beyond, blending global insights with local experience, and reaffirming Nelson Mandela University’s commitment to fostering inclusive, collaborative, and impactful conservation research.