Kim Wolfenden

Kim Wolfenden leads the community engagement team for the New South Wales Government's Shark Program in Australia. The Shark Program was implemented following a spate of tragic shark incidents and aims to increase protection to beachgoers, with minimal harm to sharks and other wildlife. Following her work in engaging the community on this complex issue, Kim was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to investigate improving coexistence between people and sharks. The Fellowship deepened Kim's practical understanding of the complexities, challenges and opportunities for people and wildlife to coexist through investigations of five real-world cases including: wolves in Washington, USA; bears in Anchorage, Alaska; white sharks in Cape Cod, USA; white sharks in Cape Town, South Africa; and cheetahs in Namibia.

Prior to working with people about sharks, Kim worked for the Queensland Government, responding to human-bat conflicts during outbreaks of emergency animal diseases in Australia.

Kim is a member of the Centre for Conservation Peacebuilding's global community of practice and has a Bachelor of Communications and a Masters of Environment from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.