Alison has many years’ experience of research and consultancy in public, private and academic contexts, largely specialising in rural regeneration and tourism development.
Prior to studying at Cardiff University, Alison was a freelance research consultant for ten years. Previously she was Senior Consultant at ECOTEC Research and Consulting in Birmingham and lectured at the University of Birmingham on tourism development and rural planning. She started her career working in tourism research and development in Cumbria and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
She held an advisory role at the National Trust (Midlands) for eight years and has been a member of the Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership for 15 years.
Ruth leads the Greener UK coalition’s work on the Environment Bill and the setting up of the Office for Environmental Protection. Before joining Greener UK, Ruth worked with a wide range of not-for-profit and public sector organisations, helping them to engage with and influence government and parliament. Prior to that, she was deputy chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks.
In addition to her Greener UK role, she is a board member of Hexagon Housing Association and the lay member on COMEAP, the expert committee that advises the government on the effects of air pollutants on health.
Lord John Randall served as a Conservative MP from 1997-2015 and was Government Deputy Chief Whip from 2010 to 2013. In 2017 he was appointed as Theresa May’s special adviser on the environment during her premiership. Lord Randall was created a life peer in 2018.
During his political career, Lord Randall has always been a passionate advocate for environmental issues. He is a member of the RSPB Council as well as a Trustee of other organisations including the Human Trafficking Foundation and the Bat Conservation Trust. During his time as MP, John also sat on the Environment, Transport and Rural Affairs Select Committee and strongly opposes the Heathrow Airport expansion as well as HS2.
Having grown up on the Suffolk Stour, Jeremy has become known for spending his time beside, on and in rivers: from the Amazon to the Zambezi – via the Danube, Congo, Ganges, Mississippi, Yangtze, and many others.
Along with this international perspective he brings a lifelong interest in fish and other underwater life, as documented in nine seasons of the TV show River Monsters (Discovery/Animal Planet/ITV). In its epilogue Mighty Rivers he looked at the role of apex predators as indicator species of river health – and at the ways, all over the world, people are starting to help rivers recover from neglect and maltreatment.
Isabella is founder and Managing Director of Seahorse Environmental, a specialist environmental PR, lobbying and corporate reputational consultancy. She has a corporate background at two of Europe’s leading communications consultancies, Burson-Marsteller and Maitland, where she headed up their environmental practice.
Isabella was Policy Adviser to Zac Goldsmith MP where she helped shape his policies; led the development of policy proposals to Government and managed his international environmental campaigns.
Isabella is Chair of UK100 and the co-founder of the All Party Group on Sustainable Finance. She also sits on the Steering Committee of the Conservative Environment Network and the International Grand Jury for Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge. In 2019, she was listed in PR Week’s 30 under 30. She graduated from the University of Southampton with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and completed Oxford University’s Sustainable Finance course.
Helen has been Chief Executive of the Soil Association since 2011. She is a Commissioner for the Food Farming and Countryside Commission and sits on the BBC’s Rural Affairs Advisory Committee.
Helen has had a number of roles in agri-politics over the years, including the Government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (‘the Curry Commission’).
Helen farms in partnership with her daughter and son in law on an organic farm in Wiltshire with dairy, beef, pigs, cereals, agroforestry and small scale veg/salads. They are experimenting with strip till/pasture cropping with Wildfarmed. Her products are sold through the Helen Browning’s Organic brand in retailers as well as through her mini hotel and restaurant/pub on the farm.
George is an award-winning writer and journalist well-known for his focus on environmental and political issues.
He writes a weekly column for The Guardian and has published a number of books including Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life. George is passionate about the state of our nation’s rivers and has crowdfunded to carry out a live investigative documentary into river pollution later this year.
He also narrated the viral video, How Wolves Change Rivers, based on his Ted Talk which discussed the restoration of ecosystems and landscape. George is also the founder of The Land is Ours, a campaign for the right of access to the countryside and its resources in the United Kingdom.
Kate Parminter was created a life peer in July 2010. She sits in the House of Lords on the Liberal Democrat benches and was the Chair of the Lords Select Committee on the Environment & Climate Change from April 2021-January 2024.
She is a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Kate was born in 1964 and grew up in West Sussex. Educated at state schools in Horsham she went on to study Theology at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Subsequently she worked for Nestle, Simon Hughes MP and a PR Consultancy. From 1990-1998 she headed the Public Affairs for the RSPCA, during which time she chaired the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals which helped to ban hunting. In 1998 she became Chief Executive of CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
From 2004-2010 she was a freelance consultant advising corporations and charities on charity, CSR and campaigning issues. Clients included Lloyd’s, the City of London Corporation & Mencap. She was a Liberal Democrat Councillor on Horsham District Council in West Sussex for eight years (1987-1995). Kate campaigns on eating disorders and is a Patron of the Meath Epilepsy Charity.
Prof Alastair Driver is one of the UK’s best known conservationists and is cited in “Who’s Who” for influence and distinction in the field of environmental conservation.
In 2022 and 2023 he was included in the ENDS Power List of the top 100 UK environmental professionals who have made the greatest impact in the UK over the previous two years. Alastair was also the recipient of the world’s largest environmental award – the International Riverprize – on behalf of the Thames, in 2010. He is one of the country’s leading proponents of re-wilding and is an expert naturalist and ecologist with 45 years’ professional experience and many hundreds of river and wetland conservation projects under his belt. He became the first Conservation Officer for the Thames catchment in 1984 and went on to become the National Head of Conservation for the Environment Agency for England and Wales from 2002 – 2016.
Since 2016, he has been the Director of Rewilding Britain and plays a key role in
influencing government environmental policy at the highest level and establishing re-wilding projects in England and Wales. Alastair also holds several pro bono roles, including Hon Prof at Univ of Exeter, Specialist Advisor for the National Trust and Ambassador for the International
River Foundation.
Francesca is a food policy and campaigns specialist. She is a Senior Associate in the European Climate Foundation’s Food, Nature & Climate Strategic Communications team where her work focuses on industrial animal agriculture.
Before joining the ECF she was a Campaign Manager at Oxfam GB leading campaigns on labour rights in supermarket supply chains and climate justice. Prior to this she worked at the Climate Parliament, an international network of parliamentarians, and was Co-Director of the UK Youth Climate Coalition. She holds an MSc in Food Policy.
