Overview
I am a conservation scientist and practitioner working at the interface of research, policy, and community action to protect marine biodiversity and support coastal livelihoods. With ~15 years of experience working in NGOs and academia across Southeast Asia and East Africa, as well as advising multi-national corporations on their Nature Positive commitments, I am currently leading the design and evaluation of people-centered, evidence-based marine conservation programs in Indonesia, in partnership with and IPB University.
I completed my DPhil at University of Oxford in 2021 on , with a focus on small-scale fisheries in Indonesia and developing applications of the mitigation hierarchy and biodiversity net gain in fisheries. Since then I have been working with local researchers and NGOs to put my findings into practice. I am designing and testing incentive-based approaches to delivering marine biodiversity and human wellbeing outcomes through a , and embedding these approaches into management with support from the Shark Conservation Fund. This work includes running the world's first for Critically Endangered sharks and rays.
I am generally interested in links between conservation and human wellbeing, designing and testing the effectiveness of conservation interventions, wildlife trade, and equitable & cost-effective nature recovery. I used mixed methods participatory research to design interventions, economic valuation methods to estimate costs, and a wide range of impact evaluation methods, from theory-based to experimental research designs.
I hold an MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London and a BA in Natural Sciences and Management Studies from University of Cambridge, and have won several awards for my research and conservation work including the ZSL Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation, the SCB European Early Career Research Award, and I was recognised as a Top Ten Finalist in the 2025 Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist Award.
Additional Contact Information
h.booth@bangor.ac.uk
Qualifications
- DPhil: Zoology
Oxford University, 2022 - MSc: Conservation Science
Imperial College London, 2016 - BA: Natural Sciences & Management Studies
University of Cambridge, 2011
Research Interests
Below is a list of my recent first-author publications. For a full list, including co-authored publications, please see my or profile.
Booth, H., Pienkowski, T., Ramdlan, M. S., Naira, K. B., Muksin., Adrianto, L., Milner-Gulland, E. J., & Ferraro, P. J. (2025). Conservation impacts and hidden actions in a randomized trial of a marine pay-to-release program. Science Advances.
Booth, H., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Bang, A., Bull, J., Moreno-Ternero, J. D., & Squires, D. (2024). Fair division for avoidance of biodiversity impacts. Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
Booth, H., Milner-Gulland, E.J., McCormick, N., & Starkey, M. (2024). Operationalizing transformative change for business in the context of nature positive. One Earth.
Booth, H., Ramdlan, M. S., Hafizh, A., K., Mourato, S., Pienkowski, T., Adrianto, L., & Milner-Gulland, E. J. (2023). Designing locally-appropriate conservation incentives for small-scale fishers. Biological Conservation.
Booth, H., Ichsan, M., Hermansyah, R. F., Rohmah, L. N., Adrianto, L., & Milner-Gulland, E. J. (2023). A socio-psychological approach for understanding and managing bycatch in small-scale fisheries. People & Nature.
Booth, H., and Gupta, T. (2023). 鈥楽hark Fishing and Shark Finning鈥�, in Obaidullah (ed.) The Ocean and Us. Springer.
Booth, H., Mourato, S., & Milner-Gulland, E. J. (2022). Investigating acceptance of marine tourism levies to cover the opportunity costs of conservation for coastal communities. Ecological Economics.
Booth, H., Powell, G., Yulianto, I., Simeon, B., Mushin, M., Adrianto, L., & Milner-Gulland, E. J. (2022). Exploring costeffective
management measures for reducing risks to threatened sharks in a problematic longline fishery. Ocean & Coastal Management.
Booth, H., Arlidge, S, Squires, D, Milner-Gulland, EJ. (2021). Bycatch levies could reconcile trade-offs between blue growth and biodiversity conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Booth, H. et al. (2021). Estimating economic losses to small-scale fishers from shark conservation: a hedonic price analysis. Conservation Science and Practice.
Booth, H. et al. (2021). Investigating the risks of removing wild meat from global food systems. Current Biology.
Booth, H. et al. (2021). 鈥淪aving lives, protecting livelihoods, and safeguarding nature鈥�: risk-based wildlife trade policy for sustainable development outcomes post-COVID-19. Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution.
Booth, H. et al. (2021). Elasmobranch fishing and trade in Sarawak, Malaysia, with implications for management. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.
Booth, H. et al. (2020). An integrated approach to tackling wildlife crime: impact and lessons learned from the world鈥檚 largest targeted manta ray fishery. Conservation Science and Practice.
Booth, H, Pooley, S, Clements, T, Hertwata, I, Lewis, S, Lestari, P, Warwick, L, Milner-Gulland, E.J, (2020). Assessing the impact of regulations on the use and trade of wildlife: An operational framework, with a case study on manta rays. Global Ecology and Conservation.
Booth, H, Squires, D, Milner-Gulland, EJ. (2019). The mitigation hierarchy for sharks: a risk-based framework for reconciling trade-offs between shark conservation and fisheries objectives. Fish & Fisheries.
Booth, H, Squires, D, Milner-Gulland, EJ. (2019). The neglected complexities of shark fisheries, and priorities for holistic risk-based management. Ocean & Coastal Management.
Booth, H. (2019). Knowing and doing - conservation charities must spend wisely. Nature.