Social and ecological insights
Data-driven research to support conservation and restoration decision making
Robust study designs and analyses to support more effective conservation and restoration of nature
The practice
Nature is multidimensional and intertwined with histories of people and the landscape.
Trying to make sense of nature, and programs and policies that support it, requires different methodologies, data, perspectives and voices. We bridge the gap between social and ecological analyses to provide the complete picture.
The Ficus Approach
A research practice bridging methodologies, perspectives and fields.
Combining on the ground and remotely sensed measurements to better understand the myriad outcomes of conserving and restoring landscapes.
— 01 · Embedded —
By embedding ourselves in a landscape, our research captures nuances a top-down view might miss. Conservation and restoration efforts have multidimensional impacts, which we quantify on the ground and remotely, from above.
— 02 · Interdisciplinary —
Acoustics and bird surveys combined with household surveys. Remote sensing complemented by qualitative interviews. Our research combines fields of study to study complex social-ecological systems.
— 03 · Replicable —
Replicable analyses and verifiable data are the cornerstones of high-quality research and impact assessments. Rooted in years of academic practice, we follow protocols so our findings can be replicated and verified.
Covering large spatial and temporal scales for robust social-ecological insights.
Services
Looking for an impact assessment or a curiosity driven research question
Whether it is designing a rigorous (quasi-) experimental design and implementing it, or exploring research questions, we provide a range of options to collect the evidence you require.
Evaluate
Impact evaluation
An independent read on whether a project met the objectives it set for itself
Evaluation reports and peer-reviewed articles
Verify
Monitoring, reporting & verification
Scientifically defensible monitoring of biodiversity co-benefits, ready for funders, government bodies, or a formal registry.
Registry-grade verification package
Design
Experimental design
A statistically sound study design to quantify the outcomes of interest, whether it is a randomised trial or quasi-experiments.
A pre-registered study design
Collect
Data & Field Research
Field and remote-sensed ecological, social, and climate data from short-term studies and long-term monitoring.
Analysis-ready datasets + protocols
Synthesise
Evidence Synthesis
Systematic reviews, meta analyses and data synthesis following recognised guidelines that help make sense of all the different literature and data out there.
Systematic review + registered protocol
Communicate
Data-driven Storytelling
Long-form reports, policy briefs, and interactive story maps, which allow you to turn technical outputs into engaging reads.
Report, brief, or interactive story map
From reconnaissance visits to a report or a peer-reviewed publication.
Method
From reconnaissance visits to a report or a peer-reviewed publication.
Our process usually begins with an exploratory call to understand the broader objectives of undertaking a research project and can end in many forms, from a peer-reviewed publication to an interactive Storymap.
01
Inquiry
A scoping conversation, followed by a research proposal with potential hypotheses, methodologies and outputs, usually within four weeks of the conversation.
02
Fieldwork
Multiple field seasons over multiple years to provide robust evidence for an impact assessment or a research question. Fieldwork covers everything; acoustic recorders hung on trees, camera traps on the trails, vegetation plots, household surveys.
03
Analysis
Open data and reproducible pipelines. Confidentiality, too, if required. Robust statistical models and helpful visualizations to quantify and better understand an impact or make sense of long-term trends in the data.
04
Translation
A peer-reviewed paper or a report, open access or confidential, depending on the context. For a more engaging or interactive read: Story Maps, policy briefs or short popular science articles.
Selected projects
Recent studies from the field and the desk.
We have produced peer-reviewed articles, long-form reports, open-access datasets, policy briefs, popular science articles and more. Explore some of our projects below.
Listening to the commons
Acoustic monitoring of community-conserved areas and forest commons across central and North-East India, combining vegetation surveys, landscape studies and acoustics to understand the effect of community-led conservation.
Project Hornbill: do agroforests sound different from monoculture farms?
Leveraging passive acoustic monitoring and AI, complemented by field surveys to compare soundscapes across agroforestry sites, monoculture control sites, and benchmark landscapes.
Who should decide? A randomised control trial on tree planting
An RCT with 271 women's groups in a government forest-restoration programme in Himachal Pradesh, testing whether devolving decision-making authority to women improves governance and ecological outcomes.
Fifty years of restoration, and what it provides people
Historical and qualitative research into five decades of state-run tree planting in Himachal Pradesh. We ask under what conditions community forest governance actually improves rural livelihoods.
Trees outside forests
An evidence-and-policy synthesis on why trees persist on farms, home gardens, and grazing lands across South Asia. We produced a systematic review on how impact human wellbeing and why, led within a NASA-funded initiative.
Predicting long term restoration outcomes from short term data
As part of the Science for Nature and People Partnership, we help evaluate how far long-term outcomes of tropical restoration can be predicted from short-term data..
Publications & outputs
Robust analyses for a wide audience.
Peer-reviewed papers, where open science is required; client reports, redacted if required.
Media coverage
In the News
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