Engagement and impact

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• I am Research Lead for IUCN UK Peatland Programme where I led the development of the UK Peatland Code and now sit on its Executive Board

• I play a prominent role in UNEP's Global Peatlands Initiative:

  • I was a co-ordinating lead author on the summary for policy-makers and the policy chapter of the world's first Global Peatland Assessment, led by UNEP and the Global Peatlands Initiative

  • I co-chair their Global Peatlands Research Working Group and led a global training programme for peatland researchers from 2020-2023

  • I led their work to develop international standards for the collection of peatland research and monitoring  data

  • I lead on monitoring and reporting compliance with resolutions passed by UN Environment Assembly, Ramsar Convention and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (which drew on my research)

  • I regularly speak at side events organised by the Global Peatland Initiative at UNFCCC, including at COP24 (Poland), COP25 (Spain) and COP26 (UK)

• I regularly advise UK governments and industry on ecosystem markets and environmental governance:

  • I established and sit on the cross-UK ecosystem markets policy coordination group (now chaired by JNCC), and regularly advise each of the UK governments on peatlands, natural capital and ecosystem markets. I am on the steering group for the Broadway Initiative's Nature Market Dialogue, bringing together each of the four UK governments and other relevant parties to discuss future regulation and incentives to responsibly scale ecosystem markets across the UK

  • My work shaping Defra's Nature Market Framework, was described by Defra's Deputy Director for Green Finance and Green Recovery as "hugely important... support on developing the standards and markets more generally".

  • I was one of the main authors of Scottish Government's Discovery Phase report, helping shape their Natural Capital Investment Framework as an Advisory Group member, and am a member of the Peatland Programme Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, and Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board developing new policy proposals for sustainable farming support

  • I am a member of the land use and agriculture working group of the Scottish Government's Just Transition Commission, helping Scotland transition to net zero without leaving rural communities behind

  • I chaired a Strategic Advisory Group funded by SEFARI with representation from each UK Government to advise on large-scale land acquisition for carbon, and regularly advise each of the UK governments on peatlands, natural capital and ecosystem markets

  • I am a member of Defra’s Sustainable Growing Media Technical Committee responsible for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture (since 2012)

  • I was a member of the Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) Land Use Expert Advisory Group, advising Government on the implementation of recommendations from CCC's Net Zero report (2020)

  • I am a volunteer board member for The LENS Organisation Community Interest Company and The LENs Service Company Ltd, a volunteer board member for Huntly Development Trust, and a volunteer scientific advisor for The Habitat People and Highlands Rewilding.

• Other international policy work:

  • I was lead author of an Impulse Report which led to an opening keynote at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)’s Committee for Science & Technology in 2015. This fed into the Convention’s 10 year plan and was extended as a book published by Earthscan/Routledge, with a foreword by the Executive Secretaries of the UNCCD and UNFCCC. The work influenced decisions by the UNCCD to recommend further work on links between climate change and land degradation, culminating in IPCC's report on climate change and land (2019), which in turn helped shape negotiations in COP14 (2019) that led to a target for countries who are party to the convention to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030.

  • This followed previous work as a lead author of a White Paper making recommendations which were delivered in a keynote address to UNCCD COP9 (2010) and as a co-ordinating author to write a CGIAR working paper that fed into the UNCCD's first Global Land Outlook (2017)

  • I was a contributing author on the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES) Thematic Assessment on Land Degradation and Restoration (2018), and their IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration report (2019) 

• Contributing author to the UNEP-funded UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) Mountains, Moors & Heaths chapter (2011) and co-led Shared Values Work Package for NEA follow-on (2014)

• Scientific advisor to BBC Education and work has been covered by the Guardian, Radio 4, Radio Scotland and international media

• Founder and CEO of Fast Track Impact, providing evidence-based training to >10,000 researchers from >200 organisations in 52 countries since 2015

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Academic roles and positions

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• Member of funding panels for GCRF, UKRI Future Leader Fellowships, BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, ESPA and the EU Biodiversa programme and have reviewed proposals for the British Academy, Leverhulme, and for Dutch, Austrian, German, Swedish, South African and Swiss research funders. Invited by BBSRC to evaluate the UK Research Councils' Insect Pollinator Initiative (2013).

• I am a core member of UKRI-BBSRC's Bioscience for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Strategy Advisory Panel, helping BBSRC formulate its strategy for agriculture and food security.

• Advised on impact to as a member of the Programme Advisory Group for NERC’s Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Sustainability programme (2011-2017). Advised and provided training on impact to the NERC Valuing Nature Programme (2015-2018) and the BBSRC Global Food Security programme (2018-2020). Advisor on impact to Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) funded by Australian government

• Handling Editor (Social Sciences) for Conservation Biology (impact factor 4.165; ranked 6/44 (Biodiversity Conservation) and 25/223 (Environmental Sciences)) (2016-2018)

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Prizes

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• Awarded ESRC Michael Young Prize “rewarding the very best early career social scientists whose research has the potential to make a positive and far-reaching impact beyond academia” (2008)

• Voted “best impact” in Rural Economy & Land Use programme for Sustainable Uplands project (2011)

• The Peatland Code (which arose from my work on the Sustainable Uplands project) was shortlisted for the European Union’s Natura 2000 award (2015) and RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage’s Nature of Scotland Awards (2018), and the Global Peatlands Initiative in which I played a number of key roles (see below) was shortlisted for the Nature of Scotland Awards 2022.

• My company, Fast Track Impact, was shortlisted as a finalist in the ARMA awards under the impact category (2016), and this work was recognised by a Royal Society award for changing research culture (2018)

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