Talking Bat with Dr Ricardo Rocha (University of Oxford)
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Who is Dr. Ricardo Rocha and what is his role at the University of Oxford?
My name is Neil Middleton and every month we create informative content for you as we talk to important, influential and inspirational people from the world of bats as well as other areas of interest. To find out more about Batability, go to batability.co.uk. Now for the interview. Let's do it. Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody. We're back. It's another interview and this one is going to be a cracker, I'm quite sure. I am delighted today to be talking back with Dr. Ricardo Rocha. Ricardo is an associate professor at the University of Oxford, amongst many other things that we're going to talk about, I'm sure, today. How are you today, Ricardo?
Hello, good morning, Neil. I'm good. How are you doing?
I'm good, I'm good. What time is it? It's just after 10 o'clock in the UK. Where are you at the moment? Are you in Portugal, Madeira? No, I'm
in my office here in Oxford.
You're in Oxford, so you're in the UK as well. Okay, that's cool. I was doing my kind of research on you for the last few days. By goodness, you have ticked off quite a lot of countries in your travels, yeah? How's that been for your air miles?
It's not great, to be honest. Yeah, I have it waiting on my conscience for the carbon footprint, that's for sure. But it's for a good
reason. Absolutely. You're giving something back. That's what's important. But it's really nice to meet you. First time I saw you was at the National BAT Conference last year, 2025. And you were a keynote speaker at that event. Did you enjoy doing that?
I absolutely loved it. So yeah, it was a wonderful excuse to speak about two things that I love, bats and islands, and to get to meet quite a lovely community that I've been working with bats in the UK for quite a long time, but I have been slightly detached from the British bat community. I mostly work with tropical bats, and that's the community that I know the most. But yeah, it was just a wonderful excuse to meet new people and get to see a lovely part of the country. I loved it. Yeah, I'm very grateful for the invitation.
Excellent. Have you ever been as far north as Scotland?
I have. I have Stirling. Wow. Edinburgh. Yeah, that's pretty much it. And
it's
amazing. I love it. I lived for a year and a half in Finland and it really gives me the same vibes, similar forest, similar bird life.
Amazing. Well, we are based halfway between Edinburgh and Stirling. So that's where we are in terms of our location. But you're originally from Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. I've actually been to Funchal. Where's the place where you sit on the sofa and they push you down a steep slope? Is that Funchal or is that another part of Madeira? I can't remember. If
you have been there, that's literally my street in Madeira. That's where I live. So it comes from... It's called Monte
and
it goes from Funchal. So previously... There used to be a train that would take the tourists mostly up. So it's Strada do Comboio, so the street of the train. And that is just parallel to my train. So people would go up on that one, on the train, and then come down. It's called the basket car. Or the toboggan, basket toboggan. I don't know exactly how it's called in English. But that is my street. So previously, until... 10, 15 years ago, they would literally come down just in front of my house.
And
then they'd stop a bit of a...
Right. Well, I've actually been in your street. Okay, it was many, many years ago. I'm thinking, goodness, over 20 years ago, I did that. I landed on a cruise ship in Madeira. And one of the events we did off that cruise ship was to do that. And Madeira was a lovely island. I wasn't there long enough, but... very fond memories i'll tell you something else we've got something else in common i think your birthday is the 8th of july is that correct
yeah
that's exactly the same date as my birthday as well
wow there you go
yeah but obviously obviously i was born a lot longer ago than you were okay so
OK,
quick introduction, a proper introduction rather for Ricardo, an associate professor of conservation science at the University of Oxford and also a tutorial fellow at Jesus College.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Who is Dr. Ricardo Rocha and what is his role at the University of Oxford?
0:09–11:15
2
How did Ricardo’s childhood in Madeira shape his love for wildlife?
11:15–21:59
3
What were Ricardo’s first international field experiences and their impact?
21:59–31:54
4
What did Ricardo’s PhD research reveal about bat communities in fragmented forests?
31:54–43:31
5
How do island bat species differ from mainland species and why are they vulnerable?
43:31–51:10
6
What parallels does Ricardo draw between bat ecology and human diversity?
51:10–52:49