Nikhil Advani

Senior Director, Wildlife and Climate Resilience

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Dr. Nikhil Advani's role at WWF is at the intersection of wildlife, rural communities, and climate change. Projects under Nikhil's portfolio focus on better understanding how wildlife and rural communities are being affected by changes in weather and climate, and developing and implementing solutions to help them adapt. These include an initiative to gather data and implement climate adaptation projects for rural communities (WWF Climate Crowd), a Wildlife and Climate assessment series to research species vulnerability to climate change, and creation of a Wildlife Adaptation Innovation Fund to help at risk species adapt to climate change. The research and pilot projects are then used to scale the work in priority landscapes globally, including in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other geographies. Nikhil is also leading a GEF project focused on nature-based tourism in eastern and southern Africa, which seeks to connect funders to communities most affected by the global pandemic (African Nature-Based Tourism Platform). 

Nikhil was born and brought up in Kenya, and went on to pursue his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin. His thesis focused on gaining a better mechanistic understanding of species response to climate change, using the Glanville Fritillary butterfly as a model species. He then worked for the Nature Conservancy in Texas, prior to joining WWF in 2013. In 2019 he was awarded the Emerging Leader Award by The College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, and currently serves on their advisory council.

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Nikhil Advani, 2022 Commencement Speaker

Alumnus Dr. Nikhil Advani gives his remarks during The University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences 2022 commencement ceremony.

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Media inquiries: News And Press Page

Title

Senior Director

Education

  • Ph.D. - Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The University of Texas at Austin
  • B.Sc. - Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The University of Texas at Austin

Areas of Expertise

  • Climate change and wildlife
  • Climate change and rural communities 
  • Nature-based tourism 
  • Ecology, evolution and conservation biology
  • African conservation

Publications

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