Rate My Professor Robert Montgomery

Professor Robert A. Montgomery is a Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Cumbria, where he serves as Director of the Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas and Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Institute of Science and Environment. He earned his Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University in 2012, M.Sc. in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington in 2005, and B.A. in Biological Anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 2002. His career includes a postdoctoral research associate position at the University of Missouri from 2012 to 2014, followed by appointment as Assistant Professor at Michigan State University in 2014, promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020, and then Associate Professor of Biodiversity and Sustainability in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford in 2021.

Professor Montgomery’s research centers on spatial assessments of human-animal-habitat interactions in ecological systems worldwide, with particular emphasis on predator-prey dynamics involving large carnivores and ungulate prey. His work examines the effects of intrinsic, environmental, and anthropogenic factors on animal decision-making and their implications for population dynamics and conservation policy. Key publications include the edited volume Apex Predators in the Anthropocene: How Humans Shape Large Carnivore Populations (Oxford University Press, 2025), “Poaching is not one big thing” (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2020), “Integrating social justice into higher education conservation science” (BioScience, 2022), and “Predicting the consequences of subsistence poaching on the population persistence of a non-target species of conservation concern” (Biological Conservation, 2023). An award-winning educator, he has taught courses in ecology, wildlife conservation, zoology, and outdoor leadership. He has received over two dozen competitive grants, including the European Research Council Consolidator award via UKRI Frontier Research Grant for 2024-2029 on research in Uganda, and recognition as a National Geographic Society Explorer in 2019. Professor Montgomery serves as Associate Editor for Conservation Biology, Biological Conservation, and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, and maintains partnerships across NGO, industry, and government sectors to advance conservation practice.