Samuel Campbell

About Samuel

Sam Campbell works at the intersection of environmental conservation and socioeconomic development. As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia and an exchange student at Sciences Po in Paris, he majored in Global Development Studies and French to understand the human dimensions of conservation in developing regions, with a thesis on human-elephant conflict in eastern and southern Africa. He worked in Tanzania over the course of five summers, first as an English teacher in partnership with Tanzanian NGO Carpenter’s Kids, and later as a UVa-funded water purification researcher. He led a team of fellow students in introducing the MadiDrop, a household water purification device that contributed to improvements in community health. In 2019, Sam moved to Hanoi, Viet Nam as a Luce Scholar working to prevent illegal wildlife trade between Africa and Asia with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In 2021 Sam began working with TRAFFIC on the USAID-funded Wildlife TRAPS project. Based in Hanoi, he works to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease emergence via wildlife trade in Viet Nam, China, Tanzania and Cameroon. In fall 2022 Sam plans to pursue a Master of Environmental Management as a Nicholas Scholar at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment.