“I was fascinated by the scale of the restoration in Shanghai.”
This semester, Fudan campus has welcomed many new faces from all over the world. Among them, Francis Commerçon is a visiting student at the School of Life Sciences, conducting research on the social factors that influence data sharing and open access to waterbird monitoring data. He just graduated from Yale University this year and will spend 9 months at Fudan to continue his master’s research funded by Yale.
Today (October 14) marks World Migratory Bird Day 2023. Jinyang Wang, a journalist from Fudan University Media Center, talked to Francis on his research and life at Fudan. Let’s learn about Francis’ research on migratory shorebird conservation and his story in Shanghai.
Francis in Shanghai
Q: I’ve learned that your research addresses issues around waterbird protection. Can you briefly introduce your research project?
A: My research is about the social factors that influence data sharing and open access to waterbird monitoring data. This is a huge problem in conservation biology. In waterbird conservation, a lot of importance is given to population estimation, which is used in flyway scale conservation planning. But the data are usually incomplete. And if the quality of these data is to be improved, data sharing is the key.
Francis working with colleagues at Fudan
Q: What’s the goal of your research then?
A: Well, in reality we have all kinds of surveyors out there: nature reserves, government institutes, scholars and researchers from both private and public sectors, and NGOs, etc. Ideally, if we want an accurate estimation, all these people will have to collaborate with each other, do surveys at about the same time of a certain year and aggregate their data to maximize the utility of their work. But every participant has a different incentive, which makes it harder to coordinate in reality. As a one-year project, my research aims to identify the specific concerns behind by interviewing various organizations conducting waterbird monitoring, to understand what data mean to these stakeholders so we can come up with ways to better facilitate data sharing.
Q: Your research seems to go beyond waterbird conservation? If everything goes well, your research will contribute to a general solution of data sharing, right?
A: Yes, hopefully. My starting point is waterbirds because I really love them. I studied wildlife biology as an undergraduate student. And what I’m trying to do now is applied science, which is more problem-solving-oriented, because I want to answer real questions out there in society. My research is interdisciplinary, because knowledge and skills of various disciplines are required to tackle a complex problem like this.
Francis at the World Coastal Forum in Yancheng, China
Q: That makes sense. So why did you come to China? I notice that your Chinese is really fluent. Have you ever been here before?
A: This is actually my seventh time here in China. I started learning Chinese when I was a kid because it’s one of the most interesting and difficult languages, and I like challenges. In 2015, I spent a semester in Yunnan studying sustainable development in the Dai (“傣”) ethnic community. And between 2016 and 2019, I came back to Yunnan and Beijing several times.
Francis posts a WeChat Moment to share pictures from a birding trip in Shanghai
Q: Have you learned anything during your time in China?
A: A lot. As I developed a gradually deeper connection with the local communities, I started to reflect on my previous research design because there are power dynamics involved in wildlife conservation. As a biologist, I have my ideals, but the local communities also have cultural and economic needs, especially in a developing economy. I started to rethink about my own assumptions as a western scholar when talking about conservation worldwide, as I realized the environmental protection is not merely about the environment, it’s about developing a harmonious coexistence between people and the environment.How can we integrate the goal of protecting global biodiversity with local development goals and cultural values? That’s what I want to answer and why I chose to come to China for my research: I’d like to immerse myself into a different cultural perspective, which will be valuable when it comes to solving cross-country problems.
Francis is birding at the coast of Jiangsu
Francis is birding at Nanhui Dongtan
Q: Why did you choose Fudan? How’s your research here going on so far?
A: During my master’s degree program, I studied international collaboration along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, of which Chongming Dongtan wetland is an important stopover site. So I want to conduct a research here in Shanghai because of the abundant data source. Fudan is a prestigious university in this discipline and my supervisor Prof. Zhijun Ma is an expert in waterbird conservation. He has offered me a lot of suggestions on how to do my research better and helps me build up connections in the community of conservation scientists.
Francis is birding at Chongming Dongtan
Q: Have you been to Chongming? How do you like it?
A: I volunteered there for a baseline ecological survey a couple days ago, and also went birding (bird watching). It was wonderful! I was fascinated by the scale of the restoration in Shanghai. It was inspirational to see such an enormous area with so many birds. I hope to go back there again soon!
Francis playing Ping-Pong (too fast to be captured by camera)
Francis learning how to make dumplings
Q: Glad to hear. How about campus life in Fudan?
A: Impressive. Shanghai is a modern city, and Fudan provides an excellent platform to meet new friends. I practiced Ping Pong and badminton with lab mates and had a day-trip around the city organized by the university. Now I’m planning to go biking along the Huangpu River and explore more parts of Shanghai.
Presented by Fudan Media University
Writer: Wang Jingyang
Editor: Wang Mengqi, Li Yijie
Designer: Ling Yiqi
