Key Highlights from the Conversation

1. Chicken Facts & Early Inspiration

• Bushra’s favourite fact: there are approximately four chickens for every human, making chickens the most numerous land‑reared animals—comprising ~75% worldwide Pint of Science.
  
  
• She grew up hatching eggs in her kitchen, with her first pet chicken—Princess Zara Fidget—inspiring her lifelong passion for zoology.
  
  

2. Countryside Privilege & Barriers to Access

• Raised in rural Essex, Bushra describes having “countryside privilege”—access to land, an incubator, and nature knowledge—but acknowledges many people lack these experiences, creating barriers to nature engagement.
  
  
• She highlights the importance of breaking these structural and cultural barriers to make the countryside more inclusive.
  
  

3. Poultry Welfare & Global Food Systems

• Her PhD research focused on sustainable monitoring of chickens’ welfare through fecal analysis.
  
  
• She emphasises One Health approaches—integrating human, animal, and ecosystem health—to address food security and meat consumption sustainably.
  
  

4. REED Network & Representation in Ecology

• Bushra helped form the REED Network in 2019–20 to support ethnically under‑represented ecologists in the UK—initially connected via an article about Reuben Fakoya Brooks, the first black British zoology student at Nottingham. This grew into a wider network of peer support and representation.
  
  
• The network gained recognition in 2022, awarded Equality & Diversity Champion by the British Ecological Society.
  
  
• REED delivers allyship workshops, advocates removal of recruitment barriers (e.g. volunteer experience or driving license requirements), and supports pipeline access to academic careers.
  
  

5. Black Girls Hike UK & Outdoor Safe Spaces

• As a volunteer leader with Black Girls Hike UK, Bushra designs hikes that start from public transport hubs, offer binoculars or bird IDs, and are highly photo-friendly—making nature accessible in joyful, culturally affirming ways.
  
  
• She describes how walking in community fosters lasting behaviour change: participants begin sustainability practices at home after just one walk.
  
  

6. Land Justice & Walking as Activism

• Bushra explores land justice, noting only ~8% of UK land is publicly accessible (versus 92% privately owned)—a legacy of the historical Enclosure Acts.
  
  
• Walking is framed as an act of reclamation—challenging exclusion and reshaping relationships with rural spaces.
  
  
• She discusses the 1932 Kinder Mass Trespass and the Right to Roam legislation (2000) as milestones for democratic access to the landscape.
  
  

7. Biodiversity Narratives in London & Beyond

• She corrects myths that urban spaces like the Thames or central London lack wildlife. Recent DNA surveys show thriving biodiversity including otters, seahorses, and peregrine falcons in London Pint of Science.
  
  
• Bushra also celebrates the return of non-native species—green parakeets, terrapins, even red‑necked wallabies in Kent—which illustrate how ecosystems evolve through new ecological niches.
  
  

8. Interconnected Environmental & Social Justice

• Bushra argues that environmental justice is social justice: clean air, clean water, and access to nature are basic rights.
  
  
• She cites global inequities: groups most affected by environmental challenges are often those least represented in decision‑making.
  
  
• Born to a Palestinian Bedouin family, she speaks from a personal, ancestral tradition where land stewardship and nomadic life are intertwined.
  
  
• Her work bridges comparative oncology, animal welfare, public health, and biotech, embodying a holistic One Health perspective.
  
  

9. Current Work & Inspirations

• Now serves as Head of Science & Research at a biotech focusing on the dog microbiome, translating methods from poultry research to veterinary health.
  
  
• Continues volunteering locally—canoeing, monitoring otters, water voles, and eels in Norfolk.
  
  
• Inspired by climate activists like Greta Thunberg, whose work connects environmental and humanitarian crises, including spotlighting the blockade in Gaza.
  
  

Related Organisations & Resources

• REED Ecological Network: A platform for ethnically under‑represented ecologists, offering mentorship, workshops, and community support via the British Ecological Society.
  
  
• Black Girls Hike UK: Founded in 2019 by Rhiane Fatinikun, now over 5,000 members strong, promoting safe and empowering access to outdoor spaces for Black women in the UK 
  
• Pint of Science: Paths to Progress at The Glitch (Waterloo)—the event where Bushra spoke about walking as eco‑activism and land justice.