Michelle Szydlowski

Contact Info

szydlom2@miamioh.edu

Education

Ph.D. in Anthrozoology, University of Exeter, UK

M.A. University of Exeter, UK

Biography

Michelle Szydlowski is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Project Dragonfly. She loves water and any large, grey vegetable-eating mammals. To that end, she has been ‘commuting’ to Nepal for more than a decade, building relationships with stakeholders of multiple species, supporting non-profits, and conducting research. She continues to work with local communities on conservation projects, animal welfare, sustainability, and human-wildlife conflict mitigation. Her research revolves around the intersections of tourism, conservation, and other-than-human animal/human co-work. Michelle has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and chapters, as well as a monograph. She believes strongly in outreach and co-founded/co-hosts The Anthrozoology Podcast. This platform (https://internationalelephants.org/the-anthrozoology-podcast/) promotes conversation between academics, practitioners, and the general public. Michelle also cofounded the Anthrozoology as International Practice Online Student Conference (anthrozoologyconference.com), which convenes annually. Michelle loves to share her passions and speaks at professional conferences as well as community seminars about conservation, humane education, elephant welfare, ecotourism, neurodiversity, teaching in higher education, DEI, and a variety of other topics. She was honored with a British Council Social Action award for her work in 2023. She serves on the board of the International Society for Anthrozoology. 

Selected Publications

Szydlowski, M. 2024 Is Your Elephant Happy? Mahout Identification and Description of Elephant Affective States in Nepal. Anthrozoös, 38(1), 17-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2024.2384212

Szydlowski, M. 2024 Elephant Tourism in Nepal: Historical Perspectives, Current Health and Welfare Challenges, and Future Directions. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.

Fennell, D., Kline, C., …Szydlowski, M., Bisgrove, D. Blythe, S., Fennell, S.R., Oxley Heaney, S., et al. 2024 Tourism, animals & the vacant niche: a scoping review and pedagogical agenda. Current Issues in Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2280704

Szydlowski, M. 2024 Elephant-Based Tourism in Nepal: The Key to Reducing Human Poverty or a Tool to Commodify Endangered Species? Tourism Cases, online. CAB International, Wallingford, UK https://doi.org/10.1079/tourism.2024.0003

Szydlowski, M. 2024 Wicked Problems, Novel Solutions: Nepalese Elephant Tourism and Conservation. Animals. 14(1):171. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010171

Szydlowski, M. 2023 One Stable’s Novel Approach to Mitigating Human-Elephant Conflict Near Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Gajah. 56: 23-29

Szydlowski, M. 2022 Renegotiating citizenship: stories of young rhinos in Nepal. Journal of Ecotourism. 21 (aop) https://doi.org/10.1080/14724049.2022.2139833

Bhandari, S., Adhikari, B., Baral, K. Panthi, S., Kunwar, R.M., Thapamagar, T., Szydlowski, M., Psaralexi, M., Bhusal, D.R., Youlatos, D. 2022 Climate change threatens striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) distribution in Nepal.Mammal Research. 67:433–443 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-022-00638-2

Hill, K., Szydlowski, M., Oxley-Heaney, S., & Busby, D. 2022. Uncivilized behaviors: how humans wield “feral” to assert power (and control) over other species. Society & Animals. 31(7): 907-925. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10088

Szydlowski, M. 2022. Elephants in Nepal: correlating disease, tourism, and welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science. 25 (2): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2022.2028628

Adhikari, B., Baral, K., Bhandari, S., Szydlowski, M., Kunwar, R.M., Xanthi, S., Neupane, B., Koirala, R.K. 2022. Potential risk zone for anthropogenic mortality of carnivores in Gandaki Province, Nepal. Ecology and Evolution. 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8491