Ms Francine Barchett

Research Associate

Bio

Ms Francine Barchett is a PhD Candidate at Cornell University's Center for Conservation Social Sciences, researching the human dimensions of Africa's hunting industry through an interdisciplinary social science lens. She is currently writing her dissertation and will lead a stakeholder discussion series for the AWEI community based on her findings in mid-2025.

Beyond her PhD, Ms. Barchett is a committed conservation educator and thought leader. As a Buttrick-Crippen Fellow, she is teaching her own Cornell University undergraduate course on communicating complex environmental issues to diverse audiences—cheekily titled "Saving the Planet Without Preaching to the Choir!" She is also the founder and program manager of the International Hunting Discussion Forum. There she coordinates a global community of practice that includes 40 scholars, practitioners, community leaders, and youth from 15 countries and 25 institutions, supported by AWEI, Cornell, and the University of Florida.

Ms. Barchett serves in advisory roles with organizations such as the World Food Prize Foundation's Council of Advisors, the Young Opinion Group of the Council for International Game and Wildlife Conservation, and the IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group for both Africa and North America.

Prior to her pivot into conservation, her work spanned 25 countries, with projects at institutions including the International Livestock Research Institute (Kenya), the Asian Development Bank (Philippines), and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (India). She holds a B.S. in International Agriculture and an M.P.S. in Global Development.

Outputs

About our international hunting discussion forum (2022)

She Learns To Hunt - American Insights, African Applications (2023)

Women and the Future of Hunting in Africa (2023 presentation prepared for the US Fish & Wildlife Service International Affairs Division, Washington, D.C.)