PhD Candidate Receives National Science Foundation Grant for Research on Understanding the Interface of Diplomacy, Politics, and Conservation

Three people—an elderly man, a young boy, and another adult man—stand in conversation on a dry, open landscape scattered with low shrubs. They wear traditional light-colored clothing and hold wooden walking sticks. In the background, multiple large wind turbines rise across the horizon under a partly cloudy sky, suggesting a juxtaposition of local community life and renewable energy development. A few goats can be seen grazing in the distance.

Asif Ali Sandeelo, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Integrative Conservation (ICON) and Anthropology program at UGA, has received a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project titled “A Political Bird: Elite Falconry, Wildlife Laws and Marginalized Communities of Sindh, Pakistan”. This research project explores the interface of politics and multispecies relations and investigates their impact on foreign policy, state sovereignty, wildlife management, and local lives. 

Cover photo: Sandeelo with herder at Kohistan.