- Wildlife management
- Hunting
- Urban wildlife
- Invasive species
- Digitization
- Environmental ethics
- Social movements
Erica von Essen is a human-wildlife scholar who examines the new roles that animals inhabit for us in the Anthropocene, and the conflicts and ethical dilemmas that arise with this.
Erica von Essen leads the project DigiWild: From virtual tourism to citizen science, investigating how publics produce and consume datafied wildlife in Sweden, funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. She also works part-time in the Formas-funded project BIOrdinary: Biodiversity dilemmas in ordinary places, based at the department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. von Essen is an active member of the research theme Conflict and collaboration in a hyperconnected world at Stockholm Resilience Centre.
von Essen holds a PhD and docent title from Environmental Communication at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Before then, she completed a master of science in Sustainable Development from Uppsala University.
von Essen regularly appears in the Swedish and international media, both print and TV/radio to speak on issues of wildlife, particularly controversies such as trophy hunting, poaching, and wolf conservation. Her appearances include SVT Utrikesbyrån, Vetenskapens Värld, German ZTV, Sveriges Radio and Arte Channel’s Vox Pop.
She is also consulted by policymakers and agencies on these issues, feeding into large carnivore management plans, SEPA reports, and participating in expert inquiries on hunting issues and legislative revisions. She has been invited to speak at both the Swedish and the EU parliaments on human-wolf conflicts.
von Essen is an elected member of Sveriges Vildnad (Swedish Wildlife Society); an Advisory board member of Digital Ecologies (based at Cambridge University), and a member of the ERC project Veterinarization of Europe? Hunting for Wild Boar Futures in the Time of African Swine Fever.
Awards and achievements
- Recipient of the 2017 Pedagogical Prize, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Five supervised PhD students, 23 masters thesis students
- Grant reviewer for research councils (National Science Foundation, New Frontiers in Research Fund Canada, UKRI Future Leader Fellowship) and tenure reviews
- P.I. for five multiple-person research projects
- PhD defense / VIVA evaluation committee member for three PhD students
- Keynote speaker at Hunting, wildlife management, and conservation in the insular Caribbean (2025); International Conference On Urban Pests (2025); Wolves Across Borders: Conference on Wolf Ecology and Management (2023), Animals in Crises Symposium (2022), The 24-hour Conference on Organized Crime (2022), NordCAW Symposium (2019): Animal welfare for wild animals
- Associate editor for Ambio
Key publications
von Essen, E. Wanderer, E., Lennon, G., Ahlberg, K. 2024. The Wild Workforce: Enlisting Non-Human Labour in Invasive Species Management. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486241300941
von Essen, E. Ahlberg, K., Cole, T. Karlsson, B.G, Macek, I. 2024. Dealing with biodiversity dilemmas in ordinary places: the case of invasive and introduced species. Nature & Culture. Vol 19: 3, 2024, pp: 237–245 https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2024.190301
von Essen, E. Peterson, J. 2024. Digital Wildlife Expeditions and their impact on human-wildlife relations: Inside the phenomenon of livestreaming an annual moose migration. Digital Geography and Society, vol 7. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2024.100097
von Essen, E. and Redmalm, D. 2023. Natural Born Cullers? How hunters police the more-than-human right to the city. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486231221021
von Essen, E., Turnbull, J., Searle, A., Jørgensen, F. A., Hofmeester, T. R., & van der Wal, R. 2022. Wildlife in the Digital Anthropocene: Examining human-animal relations through surveillance technologies. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211061704
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