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Cicely specialises in the rainforest flora of West Africa and Britain’s plants and habitats. During her doctoral studies she established continent-wide conservation tools including conservation ratings for all tropical Africa’s plant species, and a quantitative biogeographic framework.
She has significant field experience in tropical Africa, having carried out (ethno-)botanic projects in Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon and Ethiopia, and specialises in habitat surveys (botanic surveys, vegetation surveys) for critical habitat assessment, environmental impact assessment, baseline assessment, environmental management and policy.
During her time at Cambridge she worked in emerging nature credit markets, publishing the first ecological ground-truthing of Defra’s statutory biodiversity metric, and a field trial of Wallacea Trust’s biodiversity credit framework. She co-established the Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa project, using traditional ecological knowledge to improve biodiversity outcomes in industrial oil palm farms.
Cicely has significant teaching experience with Oxford’s Biological Sciences undergraduate degree and Cambridge’s Natural Sciences undergraduate degree, having lectured, delivered small group teaching and led field courses across all year groups in quantitative methods, ecology, plant physiology, conservation, plant evolution and systematics.
At University of Gloucestershire, Cicely is undertaking a population genetic study of Britain’s elm tree diversity (Ulmus). Her environmental policy work is developed through Defra policy evaluation projects in tree planting and plant health and biosecurity.
External teaching – Course Director for the Undergraduate Certificate in Ecology & Conservation, University of Cambridge
Publications from Cicely Marshall can be found in the Research Repository.