TRAINING CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS IN HUMAN INTERACTION SKILLS

Questionnaires were sent to 298 graduate programs in conservation biol ogy and other areas of the biological and agricultural sciences and to 702 public and private organizations that employ, or might employ, co nservation biologists. The focus of the questionnaires was on the need for training conservation biologists in human interaction skills (e.g ., interpersonal communication, leadership, group decision making). Re spondents were asked to indicate the current availability of such trai ning at their institutions or organizations. Questionnaires were retur ned by 28.5% of the graduate programs and 21.1% of the conservation or ganizations. A majority of both groups of respondents indicated a high need for training in the following seven areas: written and oral comm unication; explaining science and values of biodiversity to the lay pu blic; group decision making; interpersonal skills; group planning; lea dership; and advocacy. Despite the high level of perceived training ne ed, relatively few academic institutions and even fewer conservation o rganization offer or require courses in human interaction skills (with the exceptions of written and oral communication and foreign language s). Sixty-four percent of the graduate faculty respondents and 78% of the employer organization respondents indicated that human interaction skills are equally important or more important to work of conservatio n biologists than science knowledge and skill. We suggest that follow- up research should be conducted to delineate further the need for huma n interaction skills training and to assess the relationship between s pecific human interactions skills and conservation outcomes. We also r ecommend that a curriculum on human interactions skills and conservati on outcomes. We also recommend that a curriculum on human interaction should be designed and developed for conservation biologists, perhaps through a cooperative effort of interested faculty and employers facil itated by the Society for conservation Biology and conservation organi zations.