NCI Secretariat

The NCI Secretariat consists of representatives from our three partner organisations. We are advised by the NCI steering group.

Kieran Woof MRSB, Royal Society of Biology

Kieran is one of the science policy team at the Royal Society of Biology, which engages with government, funding agencies, academia, industry, education and the public sphere.  He leads delivery of the RSB’s science policy outputs relevant to the plant and environmental sciences. He also convenes cross-team collaboration to develop and deliver the RSB’s climate and nature commitments.

Prof. Laurence Jones, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

Prof Laurence Jones is a Principal Scientist and Group Leader at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), and Visiting Professor of Geography and Environmental Science at Liverpool Hope University. His research focuses on natural capital and ecosystem services, with interest in the underlying theoretical frameworks and using that knowledge to improve the way models and assessments calculate the benefits that nature provides to people. He has ecological expertise across a range of habitats from grasslands and heathlands to coastal systems. His applied research now centres around urban settings, where the interactions between people and the environment affect most of us on a day-to-day basis, through where we live or work. Laurence has contributed to numerous national and international assessments on ecosystem services, and was a Co-ordinating Lead Author on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment.

Simone Martino, The James Hutton Institute

Simone is a senior researcher in Natural Capital Valuation, with a multidisciplinary background that embraces scientific, social, and economic aspects of natural resources. He is interested in the valuation of ecosystem services (in the marine and terrestrial environment) and its implications for policy, governance, and resource management.
Simone is currently contributing to the development of natural capital approaches, with the goal of integrating monetary and non-monetary methods; the analysis of perception of risk to natural capital caused by climate change and wildfires; and the integration of natural capital in policies, under the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme (SRP) 2022-27. In addition, Simone is working on two EU H2020 projects, FireEUrisk, where he is investigating the possibility to frame an integrated capitals approach to assess economic and social impacts of wildfires; and FRAMEwork, where he is exploring a natural capital approach for farmers cluster integrated in a socio-ecological framework.

Simone has interests in wellbeing and principles for a new economics that may leverage policies that facilitate the transition towards nature positive economies and a just society.