Joshua Powell
{{short description|British conservation biologist (born 1993)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joshua Powell
| image = Joshua Powell in Kyrgyzstan for Rangers Without Borders.jpg
| caption = Powell in Kyrgyzstan
| birth_date = {{b-da|16 July 1993}}
| birth_place = Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
| alma_mater = {{ubl|University of Nottingham (BSc)|University of Pennsylvania (MES)}}
| awards = CF
}}
Joshua John Powell CF (born 16 July 1993) is a British conservation biologist.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/joshua-powell|title=Joshua Powell|website=National Geographic Society}}{{Cite web|url=https://besconservationsig.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/conservation-career-stories-joshua-powell/|title=Conservation Career Stories: Joshua Powell|last=Wright|first=Rosalie|date=30 January 2020|website=Conservation Ecology Group}} He is one of the faces of WWF's #WWFVoices campaign on global biodiversity.{{Cite web|title=Joshua Powell CF|url=https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org/team-QCT/?name=joshua-powell-cf|website=Queen's Commonwealth Trust}}
Education
Powell attended Cranbrook School, Kent.{{Cite web|title=Joshua Powell 2006 – 2011 Horsley|url=https://oldcranbrookians.com/frmProfile.aspx?S=rq68tg7|website=Old Cranbrookians' Association}} Powell subsequently attended the University of Nottingham and graduated with a first-class Honours Bachelor of Science degree in geography in 2014,{{Cite web|url=https://besconservationsig.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/conservation-career-stories-joshua-powell/|title=Conservation Career Stories: Joshua Powell|last=Wright|first=Rosalie|date=30 January 2020|website=Conservation Ecology Group}} before receiving a Thouron Award to complete his master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania.{{Cite news|last=Baillie|first=Katherine|url=https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-graduate-student-selected-st-gallen-leader-tomorrow|title=Penn Graduate Student Selected as a St. Gallen 'Leader of Tomorrow'|date=13 May 2016|work=Penn Today}}{{Cite web|url=https://thepenngazette.com/protecting-natures-protectors/|title=Protecting Nature's Protectors|last=Krueger|first=Alyson|date=24 October 2019|website=The Pennsylvania Gazette}}
Career
Powell received a UK Churchill Fellowship in 2017 to study island conservation strategy in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,{{Cite web|url=https://www.wcmt.org.uk/users/joshuapowell2017|title=Joshua Powell|website=Winston Churchill Memorial Trust}}{{Cite journal|last=Morris|first=Ben|date=October 2017|title=Scientific Adventurer|journal=All About Horsham|volume=October 2017|pages=45–47}} followed by South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.{{Cite news|url=https://www.metro.news/meet-the-meat-eating-ducks-of-south-georgia/1946990/|title=Meet the meat-eating ducks of South Georgia|date=17 March 2020|work=METRO News}} In 2021, Powell produced and featured in Saving Britain's Islands, a short educational film on island conservation, funded by the British Ecological Society.{{Cite web|title=What's on: Island conservation: protecting global biodiversity|url=https://www.zsl.org/science/whats-on/island-conservation-protecting-global-biodiversity|website=ZSL Institute of Zoology}} The film featured conservation projects in New Zealand and South Georgia.{{Cite web|date=8 February 2021|title=Making the film 'Saving Britain's Islands'|url=https://www.zsl.org/blogs/science/making-the-film-saving-britains-islands|website=ZSL Institute of Zoology}}
Powell then received a grant from the National Geographic Society to establish Rangers Without Borders, a conservation research program he subsequently founded with Peter Coals, a friend from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford,{{Cite journal|date=31 January 2020|title=Rangers Without Borders: protecting nature in divided lands|url=https://geographical.co.uk/people/explorers/item/3578-rangers|journal=Geographical}}{{Cite journal|title=RANGERS WITHOUT BORDERS working for wildlife in the Caucasus, a geopolitical and biodiversity hotspot|journal=The Explorers Journal|volume=97|issue=3|pages=38–47}} with Powell becoming a National Geographic Explorer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/joshua-powell|title=Joshua Powell - National Geographic Society|website=National Geographic}}
Powell is one of the faces of WWF's #WWFVoices campaign on global biodiversity,{{Cite web|url=https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org/inspiration/endangered-species-conservation-joshua-powell/|title=Joshua Powell: Protecting endangered species|date=17 May 2019|website=Queen's Commonwealth Trust}} for which he has hosted series on polar science and Arctic conservation in Svalbard and Arctic Russia,{{Cite web|url=https://besconservationsig.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/conservation-career-stories-joshua-powell/|title=Conservation Career Stories: Joshua Powell|last=Wright|first=Rosalie|date=30 January 2020|website=Conservation Ecology Group}} island and marine conservation in the North Atlantic{{Cite web|url=https://wwf.exposure.co/thewildnorthatlantic|title=The Wild North Atlantic|date=27 August 2019|website=wwf.exposure}} and biodiversity in South Georgia. Powell featured in promotional videos for Earth Hour in 2019 and 2021, appearing alongside other youth advocates and Australian actress, Margot Robbie.{{Cite web|date=18 March 2019|title=Connect to Earth|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Al8enTasvE&ab_channel=EarthHour|website=YouTube}}{{Cite web|title=Earth Hour|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CMHL7uJH02y/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CMHL7uJH02y |archive-date=2021-12-26 |url-access=registration|url-status=live|website=Instagram (@earthhourofficial)}}{{cbignore}}
In 2020, Powell became an advisor for The Queen's Commonwealth Trust,{{Cite web|title=Joshua Powell CF|url=https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org/team-QCT/?name=joshua-powell-cf|website=Queen's Commonwealth Trust}} a charity that funds, champions and assists the projects of youth advocates throughout the Commonwealth.{{Cite web|title=Queen's Commonwealth Trust - About|url=https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org/about/|website=Queen's Commonwealth Trust}}
Awards and honours
Powell received a UK Churchill Fellowship in 2017,{{Cite web|url=https://www.wcmt.org.uk/users/joshuapowell2017|title=Joshua Powell|website=Winston Churchill Memorial Trust}}{{Cite journal|last=Morris|first=Ben|date=October 2017|title=Scientific Adventurer|journal=All About Horsham|volume=October 2017|pages=45–47}} receiving the honorific CF in 2019.
In 2019, Powell was awarded the Scientific Exploration Society's Explorer Award for Inspiration & Scientific Trail-blazing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ses-explore.org/ses-explorer-award-winners-2019|title=SES EXPLORER AWARD WINNERS 2019|website=SES-Explore}} In 2021, Powell was named one of the Explorers Club 50: Fifty people changing the world.{{Cite journal|title=The Explorers Club 50: Fifty people changing the world who the world needs to know about|url=https://explorers.org/pdf/EC-50-screen.pdf|journal=The Explorers Journal}}