International Advisory & Governance Roles

Dr Paul O’Donoghue has served in advisory and governance roles across international conservation initiatives, contributing scientific expertise in conservation genetics, species recovery strategy, wildlife forensics, and field systems design. His advisory work bridges academic research, governmental coordination, and non-governmental conservation operations.

His institutional work reflects an emphasis on system-level conservation leadership — integrating science, governance, and operational implementation across complex conservation environments

.• IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group – Cat Classification Task Force (Genetic Contributor)
• Director – Linz UK Trust
• Scientific Advisor – Great Bustard Project
• International Advisor – FLIGHT Indonesia
• Advisor – Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation

International Scientific & Taxonomic Bodies

  • Contributor, IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group – Cat Classification Task Force

  • Contributor to global wild cat taxonomic revision framework

Conservation Governance & Advisory Roles

  • Director, Linz UK Trust

  • Scientific Advisor, Great Bustard Project (UK)

  • International Advisor, FLIGHT Indonesia

  • Advisor, Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation

Governmental & Protected Area Collaboration

  • Research collaboration with South African National Parks

  • Conservation planning input, Government of Sierra Leone

  • Genetic advisory to European Endangered Species Programme (EEP)

SCIENTIFIC & FORENSIC SYSTEMS CONTRIBUTION

Invited lectures at

  • University of Oxford

  • University of Nottingham (Veterinary Sciences)

  • Lancaster University

  • International conservation and wildlife science symposia

Wildlife Forensic Systems

  • Co-developer of validated STR genetic markers for black rhinoceros forensic identification

  • Contributor to rhinoceros horn traceability methodologies used in wildlife crime prosecution

Anti-Poaching Systems Innovation

  • Co-author of one of the first peer-reviewed publications describing real-time anti-poaching alert systems (Journal of Applied Ecology)

  • Integration of GPS telemetry, satellite communications, and ranger rapid-response frameworks

Applied Conservation Genetics

  • Genetic erosion analysis — Black Rhinoceros (Scientific Reports)

  • Genetic management frameworks — Asiatic Lion

  • Marker system development — Pygmy Hippopotamus & Mountain Bongo

FIELD OPERATIONS & LICENSED CONSERVATION WORK

  • Licensed protected species genetic sampling & GPS collaring — Scottish wildcat (UK)

  • Wildlife capture & monitoring operations:

    • Black rhinoceros

    • Elephants

    • Brown bears

    • Scottish wildcats

    • Bighorn sheep

    • Cetaceans (bottlenose dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, pilot whale)

  • Conservation programmes — Mauritius:

    • Pink pigeon

    • Echo parakeet

    • Mauritius kestrel

SPECIES REINTRODUCTION & POLICY INPUT

  • Scientific feasibility research — Eurasian lynx reintroduction (UK)

  • Genetic advisory — Great Bustard reintroduction programme

  • Contributor to extinction risk modelling and population viability frameworks