Anna van Dijk is our newest short-term student at the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is currently pursuing a double master’s degree in Forest & Nature Conservation and Animal Sciences at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, with a specialization in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation.
During her studies, Anna gained international fieldwork experience, including six months in Greece focused on human–dolphin interactions and six months in South Africa working on human–elephant conflicts and mitigation strategies. These experiences increased her interest in understanding and mitigating the complex challenges of human–wildlife coexistence.
Anna will be writing her master’s thesis with us. She will be working with GPS telemetry data of brown bears around the Tatra National Park. Her research focuses on the spatial and temporal patterns of bear presence near human settlements in the Polish Tatras, with a focus on how landscape features and anthropogenic attractants influence these dynamics.
Welcome Anna!