Professional Experience

Ian has been involved in tourism and wildlife conservation for many years. He began his career as a project manager for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Nyungwe National Park where he was involved in a wide range of conservation and tourism issues on a daily basis. As a country director for the WCS's Rwanda Program, he has been involved in tourism development and wildlife conservation planning at the national level allowing him to bring more knowledge on national and international issues that shape tourism and wildlife conservation.

Educational Experience

Ian has a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the National University of Rwanda. Ian also has several certificates including: Tourism development and management, from the World Tourism Organization; Biodiversity conservation: Biotechnology and management of intellectual property rights, from the Global Biodiversity Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Geographical Information Systems, from Wildlife Conservation in Nairobi, Kenya. Ian's master thesis research was a market study to evaluate current and future tourism development in Nyungwe Forest National Park. His research interests are in the field of ecotourism evaluation, tourist attitudes and satisfaction, willingness to pay park fees, tourism product evaluation, tourism impacts both socio-cultural and environmental, and tourism economic impacts (both positive and negative).