We are pleased to announce a programme of keynote speakers who will be joining us at the conference:
Cat Barlow is the Chief Executive of Restoring Upland Nature and has more than 25 years’ experience working in conservation ecology. Beginning her career as a fieldworker on the GWCT’s Upland Predator Experiment (UPE) in Northumberland, Cat has gone on to lead several award winning projects including the Moorland Education Project and Making the Most of Moorlands Project at Langholm. For the last nine years Cat has led the award winning South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP), a conservation translocation successfully reinforcing a small and isolated population in southern Scotland. SSGEP has demonstrated the value of a strong project partnership with landowning and manging sectors and been praised for its effective stakeholder engagement approach.
Matthew Albrecht
Matthew Albrecht is a Scientist and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development and an Honorary Adjunct Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on conserving at-risk species and restoring degraded habitats. He has authored more than 50 publications in plant conservation and restoration ecology. His team co-led the national syntheses of rare plant translocation projects and contributed to the Center for Plant Conservation’s Best Practice Reintroduction Guidelines. Albrecht received the Center for Plant Conservation’s (CPC) Star Award in recognition for advancing the science and practice of rare plant translocation.
Rodrigo Serra
Rodrigo Serra graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the Technical University of Lisbon in 2000, and got his Master’s degree in Wildlife Health from the University of London Royal Veterinary College and London Zoo. He was a Veterinary Surgeon with the Okavango Lion Conservation Program in the Moremi Reserve of the Republic of Botswana.
Rodrigo is currently the Director of the National Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre in Silves since 2009. He was also coordinator of the Ex Situ Conservation Programme for the Iberian Lynx from 2014–2015 and from 2020 to the present. He has been a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group.
Francesca Vitali
Francesca Vitali is a wildlife veterinarian and researcher with the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Health Program, based in Kenya. She is a National Geographic Explorer and member of the IUCN SSC Conservation Translocation Specialist Group. Her work spans wildlife anaesthesia and physiology research to interdisciplinary approaches aimed at improving health, welfare, and conservation outcomes in conservation translocations, with a particular focus on eastern black rhinos. She leads a multi-institutional research initiative in Kenya advancing integrated monitoring frameworks to support science-based rhino translocation planning and adaptive management. Her work also contributes to international science-policy discussions at the interface of biodiversity restoration, wildlife health, and conservation translocation practice.
Richard Lilley
Dr Richard Lilley is a researcher at Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands. He is responsible for coordinating restoration activities within the ‘The Seagrass Consortium’, which works to accelerate large-scale seagrass restoration in Europe.
Dr. Lilley is a member of the Biodiversa+ BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub, which brings together 52 experts from various disciplines, including biodiversity, ecology, social sciences, political sciences, and land management. He is part of the Research & Innovation (R&I) Task Force which focuses on advancing the research and innovation agenda for restoration. He is also a member of the Society of Ecological Restoration European Chapter’s Marine Restoration Working Group (MRWG), which aims to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange amongst the network of experts and stakeholders dedicated to the restoration of marine environments.
Axel Moehrenschlager
Dr Axel Moehrenschlager is Panthera’s Director of the Small Cats Program and Conservation Translocations, to escalate global recovery of wild cat species, ecosystem conservation, and livelihood benefits for local communities. He is Chair of the IUCN SSC Conservation Translocation Specialist Group, which elevates Science, Guidance, Policy, Training, Action, and Outreach for plants, fungi, and animals. Axel is Adjunct Professor at Canada’s University of Calgary, Adjunct Associate Professor at Clemson University in the United States, and Research Associate at Oxford University where he received his Ph.D. He also serves on boards, advisory committees, and funding bodies in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Kenya.
Martin Gaywood
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