Katy SCHOLFIELD

I am the Director of Strategic Grantmaking for the Great Apes and Gibbons Program at Arcus Foundation. I came to Arcus in 2021 after ten years at Synchronicity Earth, where I played a key role in developing the organization’s forest grantmaking in Africa, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea, as well as establishing collaborative funding initiatives to amplify conservation impact. My most recent role at SE was as head of biocultural diversity, where I co-led programs and led efforts to centre indigenous rights and the revival and protection of biocultural diversity across the organization. I have a strong interest in rights based conservation, biocultural diversity and agroecology and in how such approaches can support all species to flourish. My PhD thesis (completed in 2013) used a case study of mountain gorilla conservation to explore how and why different people and their ideas are included or excluded in conservation. I have a bachelor’s degree in environment, ecology, and economics from the University of York and a master’s in environment and development from the University of Manchester. I am an advisor to Synchronicity Earth, a Trustee of Synchronicity Earth USA and I sit on the executive committee of the AgroEcology Fund.