DrAlec Christie

Dr Alec Christie's research focuses on these key questions:
1. Does using evidence (i.e. being evidence-based) lead to better decisions and better outcomes?
2. What's the costs of using evidence and its return-on-investment?
3. Is evidence-based practice spreading and is 'evidence-washing' a problem?
4. Can we accelerate and upscale evidence synthesis using AI to provide robust and tailored information to practitioners and decision-makers?

Alec's work mainly centres on the field of biodiversity conservation but tries to work across disciplinary boundaries. Alec collaborates with the Conservation Evidence project (www.conservationevidence.com), including building decision support tools with practitioners. He has also extensively researched the literature biases that exist on the evidence for the effects of conservation actions, as well as quantifying the biases relating to different experimental and quasi-experimental designs.

Alec completed his PhD in Zoology on determining the biases and consistencies in the evidence based for conservation. Before that Alec studied for a BSc in Marine Biology at the University of St Andrews and James Cook University.

Current positions:
1. Imperial College Research Fellow, Room 301, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London.
2. Visiting Researcher, Conservation Evidence, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.
3. Associate Lecturer, Ecosystems S397, Open University.
4. Bye Fellow, Downing College, Cambridge.

Blog posts:
https://blogs.imperial.ac.uk/centre-for-environmental-policy/2025/05/12/ai-assistants-to-transform-conservation-responsibly-supercharging-evidence-into-action/