Living and working with lynx and snow leopards

Join us for a special screening of Snow Leopard Trail, a powerful short film exploring human–snow leopard coexistence in Nepal. The screening will be followed by a dynamic panel discussion with sheep farmer Hugh Marcus and conservationist Ruby Free on a timely question: Could lynx one day return to Britain and Ireland?

This event shines a spotlight on the crucial role of social science in rewilding. Beyond the ecological science, reintroducing species like the lynx involves deeply human challenges: the real, perceived, and symbolic impacts on farmers’ livelihoods, traditions, and working practices—along with the long-term question of how these costs are funded and shared across generations.

By weaving film, conversation, and research together, we aim to bring these complex issues to life in an accessible and thought-provoking way. Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the tools, knowledge, and perspectives to reflect, debate, and feel for yourself—empowering you to draw your own informed conclusions about rewilding and our relationship with wild species and wild places.

In association with the Real to Reel: Film and Social Life sociological film series and the Northern Ireland Science Festival.

Led by Dr Jonny Hanson and Dr Jonathan Heaney from the School of Social Sciences, Education & Social WorkQueen’s University Belfast

Open to Everyone

Of particular interest to those with an interest in nature, wildlife and science

21 October 2025