World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Social Sciences and Humanities
UK
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Social Sciences and Humanities

D-Index
74
Citations
27823
World Ranking
572
National Ranking
102

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
74
Citations
27911
World Ranking
1096
National Ranking
147

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Social Sciences and Humanities in United Kingdom Leader Award

Overview

William M. Adams is affiliated with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Their research spans multiple disciplines within environmental science and social sciences, with a focus on global and planetary change, sociology and political science, ecology, geography, planning and development, and genetics.

Their recent publications include the following papers:

  • Biodiversity and the challenge of pluralism (2021), published in Nature Sustainability
  • Principles for the socially responsible use of conservation monitoring technology and data (2021), published in Conservation Science and Practice
  • Quarantine encounters with digital animals: More-than-human geographies of lockdown life (2020), published in Journal of Environmental Media
  • Biodiversity conservation in a post-COVID-19 economy (2020), published in Oryx
  • The digital peregrine: A technonatural history of a cosmopolitan raptor (2022), published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

Frequent coauthors in their work include:

  • Kent H. Redford
  • Christopher Schulz
  • Chris Sandbrook
  • Jonathon Turnbull
  • Adam Searle

William M. Adams has published extensively across several venues, with most frequent publications appearing in:

  • Oryx
  • Nature Sustainability
  • Conservation Science and Practice
  • Journal of Environmental Media
  • Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

Their book publications include multiple titles with Yale University Press, notably "Strange Natures" published in 2021.

The main areas of study encompass Environmental Science and Social Sciences. Subfields relevant to their research are:

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Ecology
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Genetics

Key topics in their research include:

  • Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
  • Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact
  • Geographies of human-animal interactions
  • Land Use and Ecosystem Services
  • Economic and Environmental Valuation
  • Zoonotic diseases and public health
  • Human-Animal Interaction Studies

Best Publications

  • Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in the Third World

    William M. Adams

  • Biodiversity Conservation and the Eradication of Poverty

    William. M. Adams;Ros Aveling;Dan Brockington;Barney Dickson

  • Biodiversity conservation: challenges beyond 2010.

    Michael R. W. Rands;William M. Adams;Leon Bennun;Stuart H. M. Butchart

  • Understanding and managing conservation conflicts

    Steve M. Redpath;Juliette Young;Anna Evely;William M. Adams

  • The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century

    W. M. Adams

  • People, Parks and Poverty: Political Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation

    William M. Adams;Jon Hutton

  • Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-colonial Era

    William M. Adams;Martin Mulligan

  • Against Extinction: The Story of Conservation

    William (Bill) Adams

  • Back to the Barriers? Changing Narratives in Biodiversity Conservation

    Jon Hutton;William M. Adams;James C. Murombedzi

  • Farmer adaptation, change and ‘crisis’ in the Sahel

    Michael J. Mortimore;William M. Adams

  • One Hundred Questions of Importance to the Conservation of Global Biological Diversity

    W.J. Sutherland;W.M. Adams;R.B. Aronson;R. Aveling

  • Changing the intellectual climate

    Noel Castree;Noel Castree;William M. Adams;John Barry;Daniel Brockington

  • Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Challenge of Saving Nature

    Kent H. Redford;William M. Adams

  • Managing Tragedies: Understanding Conflict over Common Pool Resources

    William M. Adams;Dan Brockington;Jane Dyson;Bhaskar Vira

  • If community conservation is the answer in Africa, what is the question?

    W. M. Adams;D. Hulme

  • Digital technology and the conservation of nature.

    Koen Arts;Koen Arts;René van der Wal;William M. Adams

  • Biodiversity and the challenge of pluralism

    Unai Pascual;Unai Pascual;William M. Adams;William M. Adams;Sandra Myrna Díaz;Sandra Myrna Díaz;Sharachchandra Lele

  • Acknowledging Conservation Trade-Offs and Embracing Complexity

    Paul D. Hirsch;William M. Adams;J. Peter Brosius;Asim Zia

  • The movement of African elephants in a human-dominated land-use mosaic

    Max D Graham;Iain Douglas-Hamilton;William M Adams;Phyllis C Lee

  • Half-Earth or Whole Earth? Radical ideas for conservation, and their implications

    Bram Büscher;Robert Fletcher;Dan Brockington;Chris Sandbrook

  • Who is on the gorilla's payroll? Claims on tourist revenue from a Ugandan national park.

    William M. Adams;Mark Infield

Frequent Co-Authors

Chris Sandbrook
Chris Sandbrook University of Cambridge
Dan Brockington
Dan Brockington University of Sheffield
Kent H. Redford
Kent H. Redford University of New England
William J. Sutherland
William J. Sutherland University of Cambridge
Georgina M. Mace
Georgina M. Mace University College London
Bram Büscher
Bram Büscher Wageningen University & Research
Arun Agrawal
Arun Agrawal University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Rosaleen Duffy
Rosaleen Duffy University of Sheffield
Esteve Corbera
Esteve Corbera Autonomous University of Barcelona
David Hulme
David Hulme University of Manchester

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