Seeking university or provider partner: Asian elephant conservation field program, Thailand

[Tyler Nuckols]

We have developed a six-week undergraduate field program on Asian elephant conservation in Thailand that is ready to run. I am looking for a partner to bring it to students in 2027: a university that runs faculty-led programs or a study abroad provider. The curriculum, in-country operations, and partner sites are all in place.

Students learn across four national parks, four UNESCO World Heritage sites, and multiple conservation NGO and community partner sites. Activities and topics include: 

• Biodiversity surveys: bird point counts, line transects, and camera trapping
• Elephant behavior research at Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary: ethogram design, individual ID, and multi-day sampling
• Social-science methods: ethnography and participatory monitoring design
• Agroforestry fieldwork: species selection, site layout, and the economics that decide program success
• Research ethics: consent, reciprocity, and social safeguards
• Climate change and food systems
• Thai culture, history, and contemporary issues
• Indigenous rights, knowledge, and sovereignty
• A mentored research project, from question to field data to a written paper and presentation

The program frames conservation through connected social-ecological systems and environmental justice: who bears the costs of living with elephants, how compensation and resource access work in practice, and what coexistence requires from people, wildlife, and institutions. Students apply these ideas in the field, not only in seminar, and the program builds sequentially. 

Our team can adapt length, term, and credit structure to fit your program. We also have a Cambodia extension in development that could create a two-country program, if that interests you.

If this fits your institution, please email me at tyler....@colorado.edu. Program details and itinerary here. 

Tyler Nuckols (he, they)

Doctoral Candidate, Environmental Studies Department

WELS Group • Graduate Instructor ENVS 3034 & ENVS 3100