I am Professor of Biodiversity and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Departments of Biology and Geography (Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment) at the University of Oxford. I am also Director of the Agile Initiative, member of the leadership team of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College.
In 2021, I co-founded the Oxford University Social Venture, Nature-based Insights Ltd, of which I am a non-executive Director.
I trained as an evolutionary ecologist at Cambridge University and has over 25 years of research experience in a range of ecosystems across the globe. As a University Research Fellow of the Royal Society, I developed broad research interests in understanding the origins and maintenance of biodiversity and its relationship with global change. My work now focuses on the role of nature-based solutions in social and ecological flourishing, and how to increase the influence of robust biodiversity science as well as traditional knowledge on the design and implementation of climate and development policy.
I advise governments and the private sector on nature-based solutions to ensure their implementation supports biodiversity and enhances wellbeing. I am a member of the Adaptation Committee of the UK Climate Change Committee, leading on nature; sit on the Science & Knowledge Committee of the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions; and am a Trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance.
In 2022-2023, I was Academic co-Lead for the UK’s first People’s Assembly for Nature.
For enquires or to arrange a meeting, please contact zahra.khan@biology.ox.ac.uk
