The Royal Commonwealth Society’s ACT Branch has announced that Georgia Troup, a PhD student from the ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society, is to receive the 2018 Phyllis Montgomerie Commonwealth Prize of $5000.

Georgia is a PhD student studying human-elephant conflict in Tsavo, Kenya, which is becoming more important as droughts last longer. Human-elephant conflict, specifically crop-raiding, has become a significant conservation concern threatening the long-term survival of the African elephant. Working in collaboration with Save the Elephants, a Kenya-based NGO, she study focuses on African elephants as a priority conflict species to advance our present understanding of ‘risky’ behaviour developed in mammals living in close proximity to human settlements. Specifically, her research investigates the social dynamics of crop-raiding elephants and the potential nutritional motivation for crop-raiding by elephants in this semi-arid area of East Africa.