Marine Biologist Arabella Willing moved to the UAE in 2013 to work at Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi, developing and promoting initiatives to protect nature on Saadiyat Island. One of her main tasks was to study and protect the turtle nesting beach in front of the hotel. In 2019, Willing joined Emirates Nature WWF, the local environmental charity that works in association with the global conservation organisation WWF. Since then, she has worked to grow their citizen science and conservation outreach programmes. This includes encouraging field volunteering as well as online and IRL dialogues about the environment and programmes, allowing the general public to contribute to scientific research and conservation work. 

“The best part of my job is surprising people, especially when they say ‘Oh wow!’ when they discover the amazing wildlife we have in the UAE,” explains Willing, who now lives in Dubai but works across all seven Emirates. “I love seeing the transformation in people when they start to value and appreciate all that nature does for them.”

Willing, who grew up living in Scotland, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Oman, has been instrumental in developing the youth movement ‘Connect With Nature’. Her achievements have not gone unrecognised – in 2023, she was awarded the prestigious Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Environmental Award for her work. 

She points to her own female inspirations when asked about her successes. “I’m proud to say the environmental movement is full of female powerhouses, for example Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak, the President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is a hero of mine,” she shares, before adding, “Sadly, the scientific community is still fairly male-dominated though, so I’m hoping our work to promote citizen science will demonstrate how fun it is. Science isn’t scary, and it’s my mission to design exciting ways for everyone to take part.”

To learn more about how to get involved with conservation work, visit emiratesnaturewwf.ae