Inhaltspezifische Aktionen

Dr. Sarah Robinson


Contact


+33 780359360

Website

                                     

 

Academic Career


Mar 22 - present    

Research associate in the Department of Agricultural Policy and Market Research, Justus University, Giessen. I continue to conduct teaching and research activities on livestock production systems in Central Asia as part of the team at the chair of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy and with the SDGnexus Network (see below).

Mar 2020 - Dec 2021

Research consultant at the Center for International Development and Environmental Research, Justus Liebig University, Giessen for the SDGnexus Network funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ).  As part of this international collaborative project, I co-produced a research review on trade-offs amongst the Sustainable Development Goals in the Central Asian livestock sector, contributed to the project research agenda, and conducted research on livestock system intensification based on farm surveys.

May 2017  Dec 2019

Research consultant at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies for the project ‘Revitalising animal husbandry in Central Asia: A five-country analysis’ funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. Inputs included concept design; field survey piloting; contribution to academic publications and provision of lectures and exercises for a summer school associated with the project.

Aug 2015 - Feb 2017

Research consultant for the Royal Veterinary College of London, and the Saiga Conservation Alliance on the NERC-funded project ‘Saiga antelope mortality in Kazakhstan 2015: emergency investigation of disease outbreak to improve knowledge of drivers’.  As part of a multi-institution team studying the causes of mass mortality events in saigas, my role included compilation of an evidence review; spatial modelling of environmental risk factors associated with mortality events; field research into livestock distributions in the saiga range; and provision of support to MSc and PhD students. I continued to support the work on saiga from 2017 to 2022 as visiting researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science at the University of Oxford.

Nov 2015 & Feb 2017

Analyst for Tufts University supporting the Sudan Humanitarian and Resilience Programme. Tasks included analysis of livestock GPS collar data and environmental data with the aims of understanding the drivers of movement of nomadic herders in Darfur and supporting the publication of this work in a peer reviewed journal. 

Nov 2011 - Sep 2015

Research associate at Imperial College London as part of a team studying the factors driving the spatial distribution of domestic livestock in Central Asia. The role included combining field data from interviews with GIS and remotely sensed data to identify and model factors behind livestock movements both today and in the past. During this period, I designed and delivered a module on remote sensing for the Masters in Conservation Science and supervised two MSc students.

   

 

 

Education


1991 - 1994   Degree in Biology with European Studies, University of Sussex (UK) and Université de Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. Degree passed with First Class Honours.

1996 - 2000           

PhD at University of Warwick, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Ecosystems Analysis and Governance Unit.
   

 

 

 

 

Further Information


Affiliation External Member of ZEU | Research associate
Focus Area Climate & Environmental Change | Food & Energy Systems
Research Focus
  • Pastoral land tenure
  • Livestock production systems
  • Rangeland ecology and management
  • Central Asia and the Caucuses
Selected Publications
  • Khanyari, M., E. J. Milner-Gulland, R. Oyanedel, H. R. Vineer, N. J. Singh, S. Robinson, A. Salemgareyev and E. R. Morgan. 2022. Investigating parasite dynamics of migratory ungulates for sustaining healthy populations: Application to critically-endangered saiga antelopes Saiga tatarica. Biological Conservation, 266: 109465.
  • Robinson, S., Z. Bozayeva, N. Mukhamedova, N. Djanibekov and M. Petrick. 2021. Ranchers or pastoralists? Farm size, specialisation and production strategy amongst cattle farmers in south-eastern Kazakhstan. Pastoralism Journal, 11 (31).
  • Khanyari, M., S. Robinson, E. J. Milner-Gulland, A. Salemgareyev and E. R. Morgan. 2021. Mapping relationships between multi-scale factors to explore ungulate health in a Central Asian rangeland. People and Nature, 00: 1–18.
  • Khanyari, M., S. Robinson, E. R. Morgan, T. Brown, N. J. Singh, A. Salemgareyev, S. Zuther, R. Kock and E. J. Milner-Gulland. 2021. Building an ecologically founded disease risk prioritization framework for migratory wildlife species based on contact with livestock. Journal of Applied Ecology, 58 (9): 1838-1853.
  • Kerven, C., S. Robinson and R. Behnke. 2021. Pastoralism at scale on the Kazakh rangelands: From clans to workers to ranchers. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4 (298).
  • Ventresca Miller, A. V., R. N. Spengler, A. Haruda, B. K. Miller, S. Wilkin, S. Robinson, P. Roberts and N. Boivin. 2020. Ancient pastoralist ecosystem engineering in northern Central Asia. Frontiers in Earth Science, 8 (168).
  • Behnke, R., S. Robinson, H. Sulieman, A. Omer and H. Young. 2020. The seasonal imperative: Environmental drivers of livestock mobility in East Darfur, Sudan. Land Use Policy, 99.
  • Robinson, S., E. J. Milner-Gulland, Y. Grachev, S. Zuther, M. Orynbayev, A. Lushchenkina, E. Morgan, W. Beauvais, N. Singh, S. Khomenko, R. Cammack and R. Kock. 2019. Opportunistic bacteria and mass mortality in ungulates: lessons from an extreme event. Ecosphere, 10 (6).
  • Kock, R., Orynbayev, M., Robinson, S., Zuther, S., Singh, N., Beauvais, W., Morgan, E. R., Kerimbayev, A., Khomenko, S., Martineau, H., Rystaeva, R., Omarova, Z., Wolfs, S., Hawotte, F., Radoux, J. & Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2018. Saigas on the brink: multi-disciplinary analysis of the factors influencing a mass die-off event. Science Advances, 4 (1).
  • Robinson, S., Jamsranjav, C. & Gillin, K. 2017. Pastoral property rights in Central Asia: Factors and actors driving the reform agenda. In: Elie, M. & Ferret, C. (eds.) Verte la Steppe?: Éditions de l'EHESS.
  • Robinson, S., Kerven, C., Behnke, R., Kushenov K., & Milner-Gulland, E.J. 2017. Pastoralists as optimal foragers? Reoccupation and site selection in the deserts of post-Soviet Kazakhstan. Human Ecology, 45: 5-21.
  • Behnke, R., Robinson, S. & Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2016. Governing open access: livestock distributions and institutional control in the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan. Land Use Policy, 52: 103-119.
  • Kerven, C., Robinson, S., Behnke, R., Kushenov K. & Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2016. Horseflies, wolves and wells: biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing livestock distribution in Kazakhstan's rangelands. Land Use Policy, 52: 392-409.
  • Kerven, C., Robinson, S., Behnke, R., Kushenov, K. & Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2016. A Pastoral frontier: from chaos to capitalism and the recolonisation of the Kazakh rangelands. Journal of Arid Environments, 127: 106-119.
  • Robinson, S., Kerven, C., Behnke, R., Kashenov, K. & Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2016. The changing role of bio-physical and socio-economic drivers in determining livestock distributions: a historical perspective from Kazakhstan. Agricultural Systems, 143: 169-182.
  • Robinson, S. 2016. Land degradation in Central Asia: evidence, perception and policy. In Behnke, R. & Mortimore, M. (eds.): The End of Desertification? Disputing Environmental Change in the Drylands, Springer Earth System Science.
  • Robinson, S., Wiedemann, C., Michel, S., Zhumabayev, Y. & Singh, N. 2012. Pastoral tenure in Central Asia: theme and variation in the five former Soviet republics. In: Squires, V. (ed.) Rangeland Stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved Livelihoods, Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection. Springer.
  • Robinson, S., Whitton, M., Biber-Klemm, S. & Muzofirshoev, N. 2010. The impact of land reform legislation on pasture tenure in Gorno-Badakhshan: from Common resource to private property?  Mountain Research and Development, 30 (1): 4–13.
  • Robinson, S., Higginbotham I., Guenther, T. & Germain, A. 2008.   Land reform in Tajikistan: consequences for tenure security, agricultural productivity and land management practices. In Behnke, R. (ed.) The Socio-economic Causes and Consequences of Desertification in Central Asia.  NATO Science Series, Springer.
  • Robinson, S., Milner-Gulland, E. J. & Alimaev, I. 2003.  Rangeland degradation in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era: re-examining the evidence. Journal of Arid Environments, 53(3): 419-439.
  • Robinson, S. and Milner-Gulland, E. J. 2003. Political change and factors limiting numbers of wild and domestic ungulates in Kazakhstan.  Human Ecology, 31(1): 87-110.