Our six new Steering Group members, Dr Karen Haysom (Ecosystem Services Policy Analyst at the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT)), Dr Sarah Kemmitt, Prof Edward Maltby (Emeritus Professor of Wetland Science, Water and Ecosystem Management, University of Liverpool), Hetan Shah (Executive Director of the Royal Statistical Society), Dr Elizabeth Warham (Head of the UKTI Agri-Tech Organisation) and Dr Ruth Waters (Deputy Chief Scientist and Principal Specialist for the Ecosystem Approach and Natural Capital in Natural England) attended our bi-annual advisory committee meeting in London last month.
The NCI Steering Group consists of experts from environmental sciences, economics and health. The group oversees NCI activities and accounts. Members help to develop the programme of activities and ensure that our events and initiatives remain stimulating, relevant and productive and well networked to stakeholder communities. The new members complement the expertise of existing group members Ece Ozdemiroglu (founding director of eftec), William Evison (Assistant Director and environmental economist at PwC), Prof Michael Depledge (Chair of Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter Medical School) and Dr Sarah Gardener (independent consultant) who are currently serving their second term of office.
Some of the outgoing members, namely Dr Barbara Knowles, Prof Paul Leonard and Prof Hugh Montgomery (University College London) have guided NCI since its inception. But also the other outgoing members, Prof Jules Pretty (University of Essex), Professor Tim O’Riordan (University of East Anglia), Dr Allan Watt (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) and Prof William Watts (Brunel University) have contributed continuous enthusiasm, expertise and vision to making NCI to what it is today.
After six years, founding member Prof Rosie Hails also handed over the chair of the group to Prof Alison Hester from the James Hutton Institute.