Josh developed a love for the natural world through RSPB magazines, wildlife documentaries and adventuring through the Sussex countryside during his childhood. Inspired by visits to the Knepp estate, this love of nature first translated into a research interest through an early project on the long-term sustainability of rewilding on the estate. Josh then completed a BSc in Geography at the University of Exeter, throughout which his interests in the interconnectivity within ecosystems and how people interact with different species deepened. As part of his degree, Josh focused his undergraduate thesis on the carbon sequestration potential of ponds engineered by the reintroduced Eurasian beavers at the Cornwall Beaver Project. Josh also completed a placement year during his degree working at Alldays Wildlife and Communities Research Centre, South Africa, in partnership with the University of Durham. He led two predator research projects at the centre, aiming to develop reproducible, low-cost methodologies for assessing predator abundance in relation to human landscape features for species including leopard and brown hyena on game farms. Josh is now doing a PhD with the University of Exeter, co-funded by Vincent Wildlife Trust. His PhD aims to investigate future scenarios for mammalian carnivore populations in Britain, using mixed methods to assess the emerging ecological and socio-political factors affecting the recovery of these species and their long-term co-existence with humans.