Design Informatics Seminar Series: Joycelyn Longdon
Justice-led Conservation Technology
In this talk, Dr Joycelyn Longdon will present her research on the design of justice-led conservation technologies for monitoring biodiversity with local forest communities in Ghana (her place of heritage), specialising in biodiversity monitoring through machine-learning powered bioacoustics – essentially Shazam for nature. Uncovering the inherent connection between ecology, sociology and technology, her talk advocates for the disruption of a stagnant and often colonial and extractive field of study and makes clear the need for a justice-centred approach to the application of technology in conservation.
EVENT DETAILS
Joycelyn Longdon
Multidisciplinary researcher, writer, technologist and advisor, PhD Candidate University of Cambridge
Talk Title: Justice-led Conservation Technology
Talk host: Larissa Pschetz
Date: Thurs 19 Nov, 2026
Time: 16:00-17:00
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, EH8 9AB
PRESENTER BIO
Dr Joycelyn Longdon is an award-winning environmental justice researcher, writer and technologist bridging the worlds of ecology, technology, environmental justice and culture. Her PhD research at the University of Cambridge centred on the design of justice-led conservation technologies for monitoring biodiversity with local forest communities in Ghana, specialising in ecoacoustics. As an environmental communicator and storyteller, Joycelyn has made more accessible topics of environmental justice, climate colonialism, conservation, nature technology, and design. She was 2022’s winner of the Emerging Designer London Design Medal, and was featured in British Vogue’s December 2023 ‘Forces for Change’ Issue. Most recently, she has been listed as one of Pique Action and Harvard Chan C-CHANGE’s 2024 Climate Creators to Watch and as one of Country and Town House’s Future Icons Power People 2024. Her debut book, Natural Connection: What Indigenous Wisdom and Marginalised People Teach Us About Environmental Action, was published in April 2025 in the UK and May 2026 in the US.
