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Lloyd Spencer Davis image

Stuart Professor of Science Communication

Email lloyd.davis@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 7654

Lloyd is an internationally recognized scientist, as well as an award-winning author and filmmaker. Currently the inaugural Stuart Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago, he has authored over 155 refereed publications on topics ranging from behavioural ecology to science communication and science diplomacy. He is regarded as a world authority on penguins and academic honours bestowed upon him have included a Fulbright Fellowship, an Anzac Fellowship and a Prince and Princess of Wales Science Award. Find out more about penguins and Lloyd's science at  www.penguinworld.com

However, he is also an award-winning writer, photographer and filmmaker. His book Penguin: a season in the life of the Adelie penguin won the PEN Best First Book Award for Nonfiction. The Plight of the Penguin won the New Zealand Children's Book of the Year Award. For Looking for Darwin, he was awarded a CLL Writer's Award and Runner Up as the New Zealand Travel Book of the Year. Find out more about Lloyd's writing at www.lloydspencerdavis.com

Lloyd made his first documentary in 1985, with the then precursor to NHNZ, as Director and Scriptwriter for Eating like a Gannet. He was Producer/Director for Under Galapagos and Director for Meet the Real Penguins, a film that has won 12 major international awards. His latest film, The Guardian of Kinabalu, for which he was co-Producer/Director, is about Kinabalu Park in Borneo. Find out more about Lloyd's filmmaking at www.naturesvoices.com/filmmaking

Current teaching

  • SCOM 439 Introduction to Science Communication (Semester 1)
  • SCOM 433 Creative Nonfiction Writing (Semester 2)

Research interests

  • Science Diplomacy
  • Frameworks for Science Communication
  • The Science of Wine
  • Communicating Science about National Parks
  • Communicating Science in Online Videos
  • Using Mobile Filmmaking to Increase Engagement with Science
  • Features of Website Design that Influence the Communication of Science
  • Penguins

Potential postgraduate projects

  • I am interested in supervising projects that deal with any of my research interests.

Current PhD students

  • Carissa Turner – Communication and messaging in national parks and protected areas to encourage behavioural change
  • Yang Yu – The use of social media for conservation of Snow Leopards

Lloyd's research

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