OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Seminar followed by Q&A and drinks – join in person or online. All welcome
Abstract: Conservation translocations are increasingly used to restore species and strengthen ecosystem resilience, yet health and welfare considerations are often insufficiently integrated into planning and evaluation. This seminar will present an ongoing project aimed at building a scalable framework to improve health monitoring in conservation translocations, developed through applied research and piloted with eastern black rhinos in Kenya.
The talk will highlight ongoing work to simplify data collection through field-adapted indicators and digital tools, strengthen interdisciplinary capacity across veterinary, ecological, and management sectors, and build more coordinated research approaches among disciplines. The discussion will also reflect on how integrating wildlife health into translocation practice aligns with emerging global biodiversity policy needs—particularly those related to restoration effectiveness, species recovery, and One Health integration
Biography: Dr Francesca Vitali, a wildlife veterinarian and research associate at the Smithsonian’s Global Health Program in Kenya, is dedicated to advancing wildlife medicine within the conservation and One Health framework. She leads a National Geographic Society project to improve health frameworks for translocated animals like the eastern black rhino, focusing on multidisciplinary collaboration, technological innovations, and research initiatives.
As the Smithsonian’s Global Health Program Wildlife Health and Welfare Training Kenya Lead, Vitali mentors future conservation scientists, providing theoretical and practical training to wildlife veterinarians. She holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Milan, where she also completed her Ph.D. research on the effects of immobilization in African wildlife.
She serves as a visiting scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute, collaborating with the Mpala Research Center, Kenya Wildlife Service Veterinary Department, and Wildlife Research and Training Institute. As a principal investigator, she has received several research grants and has been a National Geographic Society Explorer since 2018.
