Governance

Over the past 14 years I’ve been lucky enough to focus on my passion for supporting conservation individuals and organisations, and sharing lessons learnt. Since 2009 I have been leading a team acting to build effective conservation capacity and leadership skills across FFI, its local partner organisations and beyond. Prior to this, I spent nine years managing the Conservation Leadership Programme, based at BirdLife International, having started my career undertaking wildlife conflict research and leading community conservation education and awareness activities in Africa. I have written materials and delivered training in organisational development for conservation NGOs, and supported capacity assessments and strategic planning for partner NGOs. With expertise in facilitation – and a love for motivating, and building engagement, enthusiasm and commitment for conservation, my work allows me to support a huge diversity of inspiring people in their work to protect biodiversity worldwide.

I grew up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee (USA) and earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a Minor in Statistics from Iowa State University in 2003. My research interests include landscape ecology, conservation biology, ornithology and quantitative science.

I have long-term field research in the Everglades (USA) and in southern Africa, where my team blends applied field ecology with quantitative modeling to address the biodiversity crisis. I have published over 145 scientific articles and am the lead author of the book, Spatial Ecology and Conservation Modeling (2018, Springer). While based at the University of Florida (2007-2024), I received over $12M USD in funding from a wide range of sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. In 2024, I was the recipient of the Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award from the International Association of Landscape Ecology. I am a committed teacher and mentor, having mentored over 40 graduate students and postdocs. I moved to Cambridge in 2024 to accept a position as the Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology. I am part of the Conservation Science Group in the Conservation Research Institute.

Kathy is Chair of the Cambridge Conservation Forum, a community that connects local, national and international conservation practitioners and researchers based in and around Cambridge. In her day job she manages national teams of economists, social scientists, and marine & terrestrial natural capital specialists within the Science Directorate of Natural England. These teams contribute science and evidence to conservation projects across England and provide policy advice to government on the environment. Previously, she has worked on sustainable development within local, regional and central government, most recently working in Defra.  Prior to that she was a Director at an environmental NGO, bringing together researchers and volunteers to produce data and evidence to support local management plans and international datasets.  She is a Trustee of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Commerce and Manufactures and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Melanie is the Senior Programme Director for the Global Office at TRAFFIC. She has been involved with CCI since it was founded in 2017 in part through her previous role as Director of  Science, Policy and Information with BirdLife International. Her role there was to develop strong and interdependent workstreams of scientific research, information management, and policy development across the BirdLife Partnership and to stimulate and support BirdLife Partners to set and meet science and policy goals. Melanie was Programme Director for two of BirdLife’s Conservation Programmes  – the  Climate Change Programme and the Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas Programme. Melanie headed the BirdLife delegation at UNFCCC meetings (2008 – present) and several other meetings of multilateral environmental agreements. Melanie has authored several BirdLife publications and policies including Endemic Bird Areas of the World, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in Europe and Birds in Europe.

I am the UK Manager of IUCN’s Global Species Programme. I recently moved to head IUCN’s team in Cambridge after spending the last decade living and working in Madagascar. My early career focussed on bird conservation and ecology and I spent many a happy day in the reed beds and upland rivers of Wales. In Madagascar, my work concentrated on species conservation and I established a national NGO that supports communities to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. I was fortunate enough to run projects on fish, frogs, baobabs, bushmeat, chameleons and bats;  the conservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity remains close to my heart. With IUCN my work includes The Red List of Threatened Species and CITES.

Melissa Leach is the Executive Director of CCI and also Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. She is an academic and policy leader with extensive international experience, combining thirty years of ethnographic work in West Africa with engagements and networks across Africa, South Asia, China and beyond. She has led national and international policy-engaged programmes and consortia across the fields of global health, environment and sustainability, food systems, and social and gender equity.

With a background in anthropology and geography, Melissa has worked extensively with natural scientists and practitioners on forests, soils and biodiversity, with particular commitments to bringing local communities’ knowledge and perspectives into science-policy processes and practical conservation approaches. Prior to joining CCI, Melissa spent a decade as Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), helping it to become the world’s leading institute for research, teaching and policy engagement in global development.

Melissa also co-founded and co-directed the Economic and Social Research Council’s STEPS Research Centre and global consortium, is a Fellow of the British Academy and has won several awards, including a Queen’s Birthday Honours CBE in 2017 for services to social science. Her international roles including co-lead of the International Science Council’s Fellows network; leadership of UN reports and founder member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

I am a political ecologist with diverse interests regarding biodiversity conservation and its relationship with society. My current research activities can be divided into three themes: (i) investigating the relationship between conservation and development at the landscape scale in developing countries, (ii) investigating the role of values and evidence in shaping the decisions of conservationists and their organisations, and (iii) investigating the social and political implications of new technologies for conservation. I am strongly committed to building capacity in conservation, and I am the Director of the Cambridge Masters in Conservation Leadership and the Conservation Research Institute.

I am the Director of the Tropical Biology Association (TBA) – an NGO that is building the capacity of conservation scientists and managers in Africa and SE Asia.  The TBA has trained over 2,800 conservation scientists from 70 countries world-wide and has a 90% contact rate with its trainees.  Many are now leading conservationists, or hold senior positions in government and non-government organisations.  Recently, my team and I have developed a new programme of online training and are exploring the huge potential that the online environment offers for bringing conservation to life.

I hold a BA and a DPhil in zoology from the University of Oxford.   I am also a founding member of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and Cambridge Conservation Forum and an organiser of the Student Conference on Conservation Science.

I am currently CEO of the British Trust for Ornithology. A UK-based environmental NGO representing a unique partnership between citizen scientists and professional staff. Prior to that I have led research teams in academic and eNGOs focussing on ‘diagnosing causes of species decline and developing policy or practical solutions to stem or reverse those declines’. I have had strong interest in the impact of land use change on bird populations particularly birds in agricultural landscapes in Europe and Africa. I hold Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology at Cambridge and an Honorary Professorship at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia.

Professor Bhaskar Vira FAcSS is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Environmental Sustainability, and Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Geography, a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College.

Trained as an economist, Professor Vira’s research focuses on the political economy of land-use and landscape level strategies, water use and management, forest management, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and human well-being, with a specific focus on South Asia. He works with a number of PhD students and early-career researchers on his broad interests in the political economy of environment and development, and has collaborations with colleagues in both academic and non-academic institutions in South Asia and around the world. Professor Vira is currently leading a major initiative on Decent Work and Youth Livelihoods. He has led large-scale applied research projects that involve interdisciplinary conversations across the natural and social services, and contributes regularly to policy advisory processes across the science-policy interface.

Professor Jeremy Wilson is RSPB’s Director of Science, leading its Centre for Conservation Science. Following a PhD and postdoctoral research on bird behaviour and ecology at the University of Edinburgh, Jeremy spent ten years leading studies of the ecology and conservation of birds in agricultural landscapes. He continued this work on joining RSPB’s Conservation Science team in 1996, and became Head of Conservation Science, Scotland, in 2001, then spending almost twenty years, leading RSPB’s conservation science work in Scotland, and in upland and marine ecosystems across the UK. Jeremy is now responsible for strategic development of RSPB’s science programme across the UK and internationally in Scotland to inform conservation management, advice, policy development and advocacy, and for developing collaborations across the Higher Education, statutory and commercial sectors.

Jeremy is an Honorary Chair in Biological & Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy, in 2017. He was awarded the Marsh Award for Ornithology in 2012. He is co-author of over 150 peer-reviewed papers and reports (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=vWcwwv0AAAAJ), and Bird Conservation and Agriculture, published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.