Tyler Nuckols CV (PDF)

Conservation social scientistBangkok, UTC+7PhD candidate, CU Boulder

Tyler Nuckols

Social safeguards, FPIC, GEDSI, and MEL for conservation programs in Southeast Asia.

Open to a full-time role now. Short-term and part-time consultancies, remote or in Thailand.

CV (PDF) tyler@gtadv.org LinkedIn
Tyler Nuckols
Standards
Used in practice: IFC Performance Standards, World Bank ESF, CMP Open StandardsStudied: GCF safeguards; UN-REDD (Cancun safeguards, SIS, ART-TREES 3.0)
Languages
English (native); Thai (conversational, with field research proficiency)
Work

Where I have worked

  1. Oct 2025 to Jun 2026Kanchanaburi, Thailand

    ZSL Thailand

    Consultant, Social Safeguards and Sustainable Agriculture (part-time)

    I led implementation of ZSL's FAIRER-GEDSI framework across its Darwin Initiative human-elephant coexistence program, designed the program's FPIC and grievance procedures under IFC Performance Standards and the World Bank ESF, and wrote its agroforestry and safeguards work plan.

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    The program works with farming communities in the buffer zones of protected areas in Kanchanaburi. The FAIRER-GEDSI work covered staff training, protocols, vulnerability mapping, benefit-sharing design, and a bilingual baseline survey of 369 farmers in 17 buffer-zone communities with disaggregated indicators (A-WEAI).

    I was lead drafter of the EUR 2.5M SWITCH-Asia concept note (shade-grown coffee and cacao for human-elephant coexistence; ZSL with Kasetsart University and Raks Thai Foundation; submitted December 2025) and co-authored a UK PACT synthesis report on gender equality and social inclusion in Thai agriculture and aquaculture.

    Ripening coffee cherries on the branch in a shaded agroforestry plot
    Shade-grown coffee in an agroforestry plot, Kanchanaburi.
  2. Dec 2022 to Dec 2025Kuiburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand

    Bring the Elephant Home

    Research and Programs Manager

    I built the organization's monitoring, evaluation, and learning system under the CMP Open Standards and ran three years of research with farming households beside Kuiburi National Park: 40 semi-structured interviews, a 248-household survey, and a camera-trap study across 20 farm sites.

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    I ran the MEAL system through quarterly adaptive management reviews with staff, community members, and Department of National Parks officials. When early survey data showed the lemongrass livelihood project was missing the households hit hardest by crop raiding, I restructured the targeting criteria before the next cycle.

    Bring the Elephant Home was the Thailand partner on a USFWS Asian Elephant Conservation Fund project led by Trunks & Leaves. I prepared the quarterly funder reports and second-cycle fundraising for the Thailand component (USD 191,810 for 2022 to 2024; USD 223,490 for 2024 to 2027) and led its qualitative research component with Akaraphum Pisanwanich. I was principal investigator on a beehive-fence elephant deterrent trial and supervised two research assistants.

    Two women holding bunches of lemongrass at a market stall in Kuiburi
    Lemongrass from the livelihood project at market, Kuiburi.
  3. 2022 to 2023Boulder, Colorado

    The Nature Conservancy and CU Boulder

    Graduate Research Assistant, Climate Adaptation, Equity and Evaluation

    A study of the equity of flood buyout programs in New York State. I conducted and transcribed interviews and did the qualitative coding, and I am a co-author on the two papers that came out of it (PLOS Climate 2024, open access; Global Environmental Change 2024).

    Floodwater rushing through a swollen river
    Flood buyouts, New York State.
  4. Jan 2016 to Feb 2018Mondulkiri, Cambodia

    Elephant Valley Project

    Ecotourism, Communications and Livelihoods Manager

    The Elephant Valley Project runs a responsible tourism center and community livelihood projects with Bunong communities in Mondulkiri. I managed the center's operations, budgeting, staff, and marketing, ran the livelihood projects, and built the fundraising database and donor communications.

    An elephant and two Elephant Valley Project staff walking toward the project's entrance sign in Mondulkiri
    Elephant Valley Project, Mondulkiri.
  5. 2018 to 2021Colorado

    Earlier

    • Feb to Aug 2021The Wilderness Society, Denver: Digital Organizer and Content Producer (consultancy)
    • Aug 2019 to Feb 2021Colorado State University, Office of the Vice President for Research: Project Manager, Global Mapping and Strategic Outreach
    • Apr 2018 to Aug 2019Conservation Colorado, Denver: Digital Communications Coordinator
Research

Who sets the terms of living with elephants?

My dissertation (University of Colorado Boulder; fieldwork 2022 to 2025) asks who sets the terms of living with elephants at Kuiburi. It ran inside the Bring the Elephant Home program: the interviews, the Ruam Thai survey, and the camera-trap study are its data, alongside an agent-based model of the Kuiburi conflict system and 11,895 Department of National Parks incident records.

The work names two mechanisms. Imposed coexistence: residents accommodate wildlife under terms they have limited authority to negotiate. Production-first sequencing: the risk-transfer mechanism by which an alternative livelihood project passes its proof-of-concept risk to the participating households.

Data
  • 40semi‑structured interviews; 1,684 coded passages
  • 248households surveyed, Ruam Thai, November 2024
  • 325camera‑trap nights, 20 farm sites, 40 roll‑pole units, no losses
  • 11,895DNP elephant incident records, 2020 to 2023
Infrared camera-trap still of an elephant in tall grass at night, Kuiburi, 23 April 2023, 23:51
Roll-pole camera trap, unit 12, in a crop field beside Kuiburi National Park, 23 April 2023, 23:51. One of 40 units across 20 farm sites.
Where Map of field sites in Thailand and Cambodia Kui Buri National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand; Kanchanaburi province; Bangkok; and Mondulkiri province, Cambodia. Bangkokbased here Kuiburi National Park3 years of fieldwork, 2022 to 2025 KanchanaburiZSL Thailand, 2025 to 2026 Mondulkiri, CambodiaElephant Valley Project, 2016 to 2018

Boundaries: Natural Earth. Park: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

When elephants come Elephant events by hour of day, Kuiburi, 2020 to 2023 Bar chart of 9,875 timed Department of National Parks records. Events rise after 18:00, peak at 21:00 with 1,453 events, and fall to near zero by 08:00. 12:00 to 12:59: 0 events13:00 to 13:59: 0 events14:00 to 14:59: 5 events15:00 to 15:59: 2 events16:00 to 16:59: 37 events17:00 to 17:59: 251 events18:00 to 18:59: 740 events19:00 to 19:59: 1,269 events20:00 to 20:59: 1,418 events21:00 to 21:59: 1,453 events22:00 to 22:59: 1,397 events23:00 to 23:59: 1,109 events00:00 to 00:59: 657 events01:00 to 01:59: 454 events02:00 to 02:59: 355 events03:00 to 03:59: 234 events04:00 to 04:59: 188 events05:00 to 05:59: 194 events06:00 to 06:59: 73 events07:00 to 07:59: 27 events08:00 to 08:59: 6 events09:00 to 09:59: 4 events10:00 to 10:59: 2 events11:00 to 11:59: 0 events 12180006hour of day, noon to noon 21:00 peak: 1,453 events

9,875 timed records of 11,895 Department of National Parks elephant events, Kuiburi, 2020 to 2023. Most happen between 19:00 and 23:00.

Publications

Publications and talks

Published

  1. Walker, S.E., Bennett, N., Smith, E.A., Nuckols, T., Narayana, A., Lee, J., & Bailey, K.M. (2024). Unintended consequences of nature-based solutions: Social equity and flood buyouts. PLOS Climate 3(7), e0000328. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000328Published
  2. Walker, S.E., Smith, E.A., Bennett, N., Bannister, E., Narayana, A., Nuckols, T., Pineda Velez, K., Wrigley, J., & Bailey, K.M. (2024). Defining and conceptualizing equity and justice in climate adaptation. Global Environmental Change 87, 102885. doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102885Published
  3. Nuckols, T. (2020). Plans to prevent future pandemics must consider gender issues, too. Mongabay, 6 May 2020.Commentary

Under review or in revision

  1. Nuckols, T., Pisanwanich, A., van de Water, A., English, M., & Bailey, K. Imposed coexistence: A multidimensional environmental justice analysis of human-elephant conflict in Kuiburi, Thailand. People and Nature.Under review
  2. Nuckols, T., Pisanwanich, A., Owen, A., van de Water, A., English, M., de Silva, S., & Bailey, K. The roll-pole: A freestanding camera trap mount for megafauna monitoring in active agricultural fields. Wildlife Society Bulletin.In revision
  3. Crouthers, R., & Nuckols, T. Environmental justice considerations in human-elephant conflict and coexistence. In IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group & IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Specialist Group, Guidelines for Human-Elephant Conflict in Asia.Submitted
  4. van de Water, A., et al. (Nuckols, T., co-author). Pluralism, not polarity: Conservation philosophies within human-elephant landscapes. npj Biodiversity.In revision
In preparation (2)
  1. Nuckols, T., Pisanwanich, A., Timtang, K., van de Water, A., & Bailey, K. Production-first sequencing (working title): risk transfer in an alternative livelihood intervention at Kuiburi.In preparation
  2. Nuckols, T., Pisanwanich, A., & Bailey, K. Exposure and structural disadvantage as distinct axes of household experience of human-elephant conflict in Kuiburi, Thailand (248-household survey, November 2024).In preparation
Talks (5)
  1. Imposed coexistence: Who sets the terms of living with elephants at Kuiburi, Thailand. Invited talk, symposium convened by the IUCN SSC Behaviour Change Task Force, 2nd International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence, Bangkok.2 to 4 Mar 2027
  2. What is "fair" in human-elephant conflict? Understanding local community experiences, monitoring mitigation, and finding solutions through environmental justice. Oral presentation, 32nd International Congress for Conservation Biology, Brisbane.Jun 2025
  3. Just coexistence? Navigating human-elephant interactions in Kuiburi, Thailand, through environmental justice. SCB Social Science Working Group Conference (virtual).Nov 2024
  4. Human-elephant coexistence: Environmental justice in Kuiburi, Thailand. Pathways Europe 2024, Córdoba, Spain.Oct 2024
  5. Systems of change: Human-elephant experiences in dynamic agroecosystems. 19th International Elephant Conservation and Research Symposium, Chiang Mai.Nov 2023
Research awards (5)
  1. Beverly Sears Graduate Research Award, University of Colorado Boulder2025
  2. Graduate Student Research Award, Society for Conservation Biology2023
  3. CARTSS Graduate Research Award, University of Colorado Boulder2023
  4. IDEAwild Tools for Conservation Grant2021
  5. Cynthia H. Schultz Research Award2021

References are available on request.

Education

Degrees

  1. 2021 to present PhD, Environmental Studies University of Colorado Boulder. Dissertation: Environmental Justice, Resilience, and Vulnerability in Human-Wildlife Conflict. Advisor Karen Bailey. Defense expected May 2027.
  2. 2021 MS, Global Conservation Leadership Colorado State University
  3. 2014 BS, Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences Texas A&M University

Registration and certificates

  1. Current Registered foreign researcher National Research Council of Thailand
  2. 2023 Certificate in College Teaching University of Colorado Boulder
  3. 2021 Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation The Nature Conservancy
Teaching

What I teach

Instructor of record (asynchronous, online) for ENVS 3102 Human-Wildlife Interactions and ENVS 3034 Environmental Justice in Conservation at CU Boulder since August 2023; teaching assistant on ENVS 1000 from 2021 to 2023. CU Boulder gave me the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Best Should Teach Award in 2023.

I designed Environmental Justice in Conservation: From Principles to Practice, an online, self-paced course at the Center for Wildlife Studies. The course page carries the enrollment dates.

I designed a seven-week Thailand field program for Wildlands Studies (four national parks, two UNESCO World Heritage sites).

Tyler Nuckols talking with a group of field course students in a forest in Thailand
Field teaching, Thailand.
Consulting

Ground Truth Advisory

The name I contract under

I take short-term and part-time consultancies as an individual, contracting under the name Ground Truth Advisory. The work I take on:

  • FPIC process design
  • Grievance redress mechanisms
  • GEDSI analysis
  • Safeguards review of proposals and project documents
  • Monitoring and evaluation frameworks

I work in the standards I have used in practice (IFC Performance Standards, the World Bank ESF, the CMP Open Standards) and have studied GCF safeguards and the UN-REDD safeguards requirements (Cancun safeguards, safeguard information systems, ART-TREES 3.0). Send me the terms of reference and I will tell you whether it is work I can do well.

Rates on request. I work from Bangkok (UTC+7), remotely or with travel in Thailand. For an example of the comparison work, see FPIC requirements across the biodiversity credit market.

Tyler Nuckols standing with a farmer in a harvested field beside Kuiburi National Park, both in wide straw hats
With a farmer at Kuiburi.
Writing

Ground Truth Tyler, on Substack

April 2026

Writing Grants in a Contracting World

The funding environment for conservation has contracted sharply. How to build proposals that still compete when the pool is smaller and the scrutiny is tighter.
March 2026

The Alphabet Soup of Monitoring and Evaluation

M&E, MEL, MEAL, MERL: the acronyms keep multiplying but the practice often stays the same. A field guide to what each one means, where adaptive management fits in, and why the real problem is governance, not terminology.
February 2026

Why Conservation Safeguards Fail

The documents are well-designed. The outcomes for communities are poor. Five structural reasons conservation safeguards fail to translate from paper to practice.
February 2026

FPIC Requirements Across the Biodiversity Credit Market: A Practical Comparison

Verra SD VISta, CCB Standards, and the Biodiversity Credit Alliance Principles all require FPIC, but their specific requirements differ in ways that affect how you design your consent process. A side-by-side comparison.

More on Substack

Contact

Get in touch

For a role, a consultancy, or a question about the research. Send terms of reference if you have them.

tyler@gtadv.org
linkedin.com/in/tyler-nuckols
researchgate.net/profile/Tyler-Nuckols
Bangkok, Thailand (UTC+7)

A herd of gaur grazing at the forest edge with cattle egrets among them
Gaur at the forest edge, Kuiburi National Park.