In a world of shrinking habitats and increasing competition for natural resources, potentially dangerous predators bring the challenges of coexisting with wildlife sharply into focus. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among authors trained in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, we reviewed current approaches to mitigating adverse human–predator encounters and devised a vision for future approaches to understanding and mitigating such encounters. Limitations to current approaches to mitigation include too much focus on negative impacts; oversimplified equating of levels of damage with levels of conflict; and unsuccessful technical fixes resulting from failure to engage locals, address hidden costs, or understand cultural (nonscientific) explanations of the causality of attacks. An emerging interdisciplinary literature suggests that to better frame and successfully mitigate negative human–predator relations conservation professionals need to consider dispensing with conflict as the dominant framework for thinking about human–predator encounters; work out what conflicts are really about (they may be human–human conflicts); unravel the historical contexts of particular conflicts; and explore different cultural ways of thinking about animals. The idea of cosmopolitan natures may help conservation professionals think more clearly about human–predator relations in both local and global context. These new perspectives for future research practice include a recommendation for focused interdisciplinary research and the use of new approaches, including human‐animal geography, multispecies ethnography, and approaches from the environmental humanities notably environmental history. Managers should think carefully about how they engage with local cultural beliefs about wildlife, work with all parties to agree on what constitutes good evidence, develop processes and methods to mitigate conflicts, and decide how to monitor and evaluate these. Demand for immediate solutions that benefit both conservation and development favors dispute resolution and technical fixes, which obscures important underlying drivers of conflicts. If these drivers are not considered, well‐intentioned efforts focused on human–wildlife conflicts will fail.

Dog walking is a popular everyday physical activity. Dog owners are generally more active than non-owners, but some rarely walk with their dog. The strength of the dog–owner relationship is known to be correlated with dog walking, and this qualitative study investigates why. Twenty-six interviews were combined with autoethnography of dog walking experiences. Dog walking was constructed as “for the dog”, however, owners represented their dog’s needs in a way which aligned with their own. Central to the construction of need was perceptions of dog personality and behaviour. Owners reported deriving positive outcomes from dog walking, most notably, feelings of “happiness”, but these were “contingent” on the perception that their dogs were enjoying the experience. Owner physical activity and social interaction were secondary bonuses but rarely motivating. Perceptions and beliefs of owners about dog walking were continually negotiated, depending on how the needs of the owner and dog were constructed at that time. Complex social interactions with the “significant other” of a pet can strongly motivate human health behaviour. Potential interventions to promote dog walking need to account for this complexity and the effect of the dog-owner relationship on owner mental wellbeing.

Policy and campaigning messages related to dog ownership and welfare center on the concept of responsible ownership. However, the perspectives and experiences of pet owners and how they perceive and perform their responsibilities has not been studied in depth. This qualitative study used conversations about owning and walking dogs in order to elucidate beliefs and views about responsibility in dog ownership. Data comprised 12 in-depth interviews with dog-owning households, 14 short interviews with dog owners while walking their dogs or representing their breed at a dog show, and autoethnography of the first author’s experiences owning and walking dogs. All participants considered themselves responsible dog owners, yet there was great variation in key aspects of their dog-owning behavior. The feelings of responsibility were rooted in the valued unconditional and reciprocal love that owners believed underpinned their human–dog bond. Dogs were described as dependents, similar to, but different from, children. In deciding how to look after their dogs, owners sought to balance their views of dogs as kin, having individual needs to be met, with consideration of the needs of others. Four processes through which issues of irresponsible dog ownership may arise were suggested: owner–dog relationship being too weak or too strong; differences in interpretation of what is best for the dog; difficulties predicting and avoiding situations of conflict; and differences in tolerance of negative impacts of dog ownership. While “responsible dog ownership” has considerable appeal as a concept, how it is perceived and interpreted varies so extensively that simply telling owners that they should “be responsible” is of limited use as a message to promote behavior change. Facilitating “responsible dog ownership” and reducing “irresponsible dog owner” behaviors relies on a detailed understanding of the variables which influence how the dog’s role is constructed within the family and the wider society.

Dog walking is a popular everyday activity known to contribute considerably to human health through motivating substantial additional physical activity. However, despite recognition that walking with a dog is substantially different from walking without a dog, little is known sociologically about the practices of dog walking. This study used in-depth interviews with 38 dog owners, combined with autoethnographical observation of dog walking. The aim was to investigate the types of dog walks that occur and the implications of this for the promotion of dog walking to increase human and animal wellbeing. Two distinct types of dog walking were found that had differing influencers and resulting experiences. Functional walks were purposed through feelings of guilt to provide the dog with a convenient form of exercise but were less pleasurable for the owner. In contrast, recreational walks provided significant owner stress-relief and were longer, typically during pleasant weather and at weekends, in less urban environments, and involved more members of the household. Limitations on time availability, conducive weather or accessibility of desirable physical environments for dog walking, generated functional rather than recreational dog walks. These findings have implications for interventions aiming to promote dog walking and for policy relating to the availability of safe and suitable green spaces for encouraging dog walking.

The Rising from the Depths (RftD) network aims to identify the ways in which Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) can contribute to the sustainable development of coastal communities in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar. Although the coastal and marine heritage of eastern Africa is a valuable cultural and environmental resource, it remains largely unstudied and undervalued and is subject to significant threat from natural and anthropogenic processes of change. This paper outlines the aims of the RftD network and describes the co-creation of a challenge-led research and sustainability programme for the study of MCH in eastern Africa. Through funding 29 challenge-led research projects across these four Global South countries, the network is demonstrating how MCH can directly benefit East African communities and local economies through building identity and place-making, stimulating resource-centred alternative sources of income and livelihoods, and enhancing the value and impact of overseas aid in the marine sector. Overall, Rising from the Depths aims to illustrate that an integrated consideration of cultural heritage, rather than being a barrier to development, should be positioned as a central facet of the transformative development process if that development is to be ethical, inclusive and sustainable.