Dr. Natalie Schmitt is an ecologist, conservation geneticist and documentary film maker with a long history of deep passion and dedication to finding new and innovative ways to address the underlying causes of our massive biodiversity crisis. As both the causes and the solutions involve people, Natalie’s focus has been multi-faceted, going beyond science to explore ways that we can connect with, inspire, understand, and empower people. Taking her inspiration from the Indigenous notion of two-eyed seeing, she is motivated to combine the scientific way of seeing the world with Indigenous knowledge, as well as the use of art and film to foster deep collaboration and inspiration for conservation.
Studying elusive, endangered species, like snow leopard, Natalie has worked at restoring harmony between people, livestock and wildlife in key snow leopard regions of Nepal with local NGO Pangje, to create safe corridors for snow leopards to flourish. Through her conservation genetic research on humpback whales and Antarctic blue whales with the Australian Antarctic Division, she has contributed to policy and management improvement at various scales, including that of the International Whaling Commission.
Over the past 8 years, Natalie has developed a portable leading-edge technology to detect DNA from biological samples in real time, at low cost and easy-to-use. She leads a skilled, synergic team of geneticists, conservationists, business partners, and institutions who have helped to make this possible. Together, WildTechDNA will revolutionize the way customs, law-enforcement, field monitoring practices, citizen science, and locally based conservation are conducted around the world.
Natalie was chosen as one of the Explorers Club 50 people changing the world that the world needs to know about in 2022. Her mission is centered around the belief that our environmental crisis is not an external, isolated problem but rather a human, societal and deeply personal challenge.
Language spoken: English
Photo credit: Kylie Owen