Speakers

Our symposium will host four sessions supporting the creation of a more cohesive community around large-scale land, freshwaters and coastal/marine systems. Attendees are encouraged to share best practice, promote more standardised and effective monitoring and evaluation approaches and support the development of new projects to enhance our evidence base and ensure the most impactful outcomes.

For more information about the programme, please click here

Chair

Bridget Emmett OBE, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

Professor Bridget Emmett is UKCEH’s Science Area Head for Soils and Land Use (SLU) which involves leadership and management of more than 100 research staff and 40 postgraduate students across three UKCEH sites. Research in the SLU team tackle urgent challenges such as the need for cleaner air, more sustainable land management practices, restoring soil health, climate mitigation as well as developing new opportunities for policy and business such as green finance and net zero across many habitats from agricultural land to upland, coastal and urban systems.

Bridget’s current research is often as the lead for projects requiring the coordination of a large number of partners to improve integration across different disciplines and sectors from catchment/landscape to national scale to improve the evidence base and support national policy development and outcome reporting in the areas of e.g. soil health, ecosystem services, agri-environment schemes and natural capital.

Keynote Speakers

James Bullock is a senior researcher at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, where he works across a range of subjects concerning environmental change and nature recovery. He is particularly concerned with the climate and nature crises and the multiple strategies to address them. He works in particular on rewilding and ecological restoration, and their central role in bringing back biodiversity and ecosystem services in our degraded landscapes. This includes re-thinking our traditional focus on taxonomic identity and considering more how to reinforce and create highly functioning ecosystems and landscapes that could be resilient to ongoing environmental change.

Rob Collins began his career at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology where he completed his PhD in Water Quality. Following 5 years as Senior Scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Sciences he worked at the European Environment Agency, focusing upon freshwater policy across Europe. He joined the Rivers Trust in 2012 and manages several projects related to integrated land and water management, including delivery of nature based solutions in urban and rural environments. He also has a key role in driving collaborative water management across England under the Catchment Based Approach initiative.

Rich Fitton joined the Finance Earth team in 2019 where he has led natural capital advisory mandates across a range of public, private and philanthropic clients.  Richard has worked on the design and development of several blended finance vehicles for natural capital, and has been active in policy and advocacy, including advising English, Scottish and Welsh governments on policy mechanisms to accelerate the development of the UK’s natural capital markets. Prior to joining Finance Earth, Richard spent nine years working in corporate finance, around half of that time in UK mid-market M&A and the other half at Vietnam’s leading investment bank, advising on both cross-border M&A and capital market transactions. Richard is a chartered accountant (ACA) with a first-class BA (Hons) in History from Bristol University and has completed an MSc in Sustainable Energy and Demand Management from the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales where his dissertation valued ecosystem services from freshwater habitats.

Rosie Hails MBE is an ecologist and Nature and Science Director at the National Trust, holding honorary chairs at Exeter and Cranfield Universities. Her role is to develop the Trust’s nature strategy, research portfolio and advice on science evidence relevant to Trust decision making. She leads teams focusing on Nature Conservation, Environmental Research & Data, Trees & Woodland Creation, Wildlife Management, Land Use, Farming and Public Benefits delivered by Nature. She is also one of three Directors of ‘Renew’ – a five year Changing the Environment program funded by NERC, and led by the University of Exeter & National Trust Partnership.

She is a member of Defra’s Science Advisory Council, chair of the Biodiversity Expert Committee, and on a number of advisory boards. Formerly she was the Science Director for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Science at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (2013 – 2018). She was awarded an MBE for services to Environmental Research in 2000.

Louise MacCallum is the Solent Project Manager for Blue Marine Foundation, lead partner for the Solent Seascape Project. Louise spent her childhood beachcombing along the Pembrokeshire coast. Since studying Marine Biology at the University of Liverpool she has worked on conservation projects in the UK and overseas. Louise has lived on the shores of the Solent for more than a decade and is passionate about restoring its intricate marine habitats.

Nancy Ockenden is the Science Manager for the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme. For the past five years she has been working with large-scale restoration projects across Europe to improve understanding of how to effectively restore natural processes in ecosystems ranging from forests and grasslands to salt marshes and wetlands. This has involved developing bespoke monitoring programmes to demonstrate the ecological and socioeconomic benefits that landscape restoration can deliver. She is also involved in working with practitioners to design experimental trials to test the effectiveness of restoration interventions. Before this, Nancy worked for a number of years in the University of Cambridge as part of the Conservation Evidence team and as a researcher at the British Trust for Ornithology and the RSPB.

Jeremy Roberts was appointed as Programme Manager for the Cairngorms Connect Partnership in February 2019.  He oversees the operation of the partnership across the 600sqkm Cairngorms Connect (CC) area, working closely with the four land managing partners.  Prior to this role, Jeremy was Senior Site Manager of the RSPB’s Abernethy reserve (137sqkm – RSPB’s second biggest reserve), a role he did for 14 years.  He is one of the founding members of Cairngorms Connect.  In 2018, Jeremy led the application process that secured a $5mUSD grant from the Endangered Landscapes Programme – private funding from the Arcadia Trust – that directly supports habitat restoration and community engagement in the CC area.  Jeremy first joined RSPB in 1997, and oversaw RSPB Scotland’s nature reserve management, and advisory programme.  Before joining RSPB, Jeremy’s early career (in voluntary and statutory sectors) focused on providing wildlife advice to farmers and crofters.

Please note that these speakers are subject to change

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