Mimi Kessler

Research Associate

Mimi Kessler directs the Eurasian Bustard Alliance and serves as the IUCN Bustard Species Specialist Group’s North Eurasian Bustard Coordinator and Councillor to the Convention on Migratory Species. Mimi takes a community-based approach to conservation science, involving local people at multiple levels of research and building conservation capacity. Mimi is actively involved in conservation policy, and coordinates initiatives to increase the level of protection and international cooperation for bustard species globally via the Convention on Migratory Species. Mimi first traveled to Eurasia in 1993 and has since spent over seven cumulative years in-country. She speaks Russian fluently, Mongolian at an advanced level, and Uzbek and other Central Asian languages to a lesser degree. She received her doctorate in Biology from Arizona State University.