Our conservation committee

Dr Ian Jardine OBE
Vice Chair (Convenor, Conservation Committee)

Ian was born in Edinburgh and lives in Perthshire. He has degrees in Ecology and Zoology and spent most of his career with Scottish Natural Heritage (now NatureScot) where he was Chief Executive for 15 years. He also worked for Scottish Government and the European Commission, helping to review its nature legislation. He has a life long interest in wildlife and in helping people to experience and enjoy it sustainably. He is also a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.

Mark Aitken

Prior to his retirement in 2022, Mark’s career of 38 years focussed on the sustainable use of land. This included leadership responsibilities across land policy development, research, consultancy, teaching and training, partnership working and management positions. Much of his career has involved working with senior staff across the Scottish Government and its Agencies, environmental charities, the rural land sector and other stakeholders.

• 2004-2022 – SEPA’s Principal Policy Officer on Land, and Manager of the Land Policy Unit. Mark was SEPA’s policy lead on rural land issues and his main focus was on the environmental impacts of rural land management. This included developing policies to minimise pollution, protect soil, air and water, mitigate climate change.
• 1992-2004 – Scotland’s Rural College as Lecturer in Environmental Sciences, and later Team Leader and Principal Consultant in Land Management.
• 1984-1992- Soil Science Adviser with Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Mark is currently a Trustee for John Muir Trust, Nourish Scotland and Scottish Wild Land Group and his main interests are mountaineering, appreciating nature and wildlife watching.

Julian Caldecott
Deputy Convenor, Conservation Committee

As an ecologist, Julian has mainly worked on tropical wildlife research and conservation, and on consulting and writing about solutions to challenges around biodiversity, ecosystems, water and climate change. His priorities include promoting ‘peace with nature’ and the climate emergency response by advising official aid donors on partnership-based ecosystem protection, education and governance. His interests include history, natural history, and exploring Scotland’s landscapes. His key aim is to promote globally aware and networked actions that build on Scotland’s precious resource of public enthusiasm for safeguarding heritage, natural beauty and ecological integrity.

Professor Brian Huntley

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Brian’s interest in natural history was encouraged from an early age by his parents. His first degree was in Botany, followed by a doctoral degree studying the contemporary vegetation and vegetation history of two National Nature Reserves in the eastern Highlands. After almost five years as a post-doctoral researcher, he was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Durham. Here he subsequently worked for the rest of his career, progressing to a Senior Lectureship and then a personal Professorship, and serving for 6 years as Head of Department. He retired in 2018, since when he holds an Emeritus Professorship. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group, has acted as a consultant to the Bern Convention Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change, and has been a member of various national and international working groups addressing issues related to the conservation of biological diversity in a world with a changing climate. He has published four books, over 50 book chapters, and more than 175 papers in scientific journals. His research has ranged from global in scope to studies of the Southern Alps in New Zealand, Southern Africa, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and the European Arctic, as well as Scotland.

David Jamieson

With degrees in Human Ecology, Environmental Management, and Town & Country Planning, David is a Chartered Ecologist whose career has spanned senior roles in local government, charities and academia. His principal interest is urban ecology and the interactions between people and their natural environment, advancing the cause of biodiversity within city authorities and as Director of TCV Scotland and TCV International. Having recently retired from managing the City of Edinburgh Council’s Parks & Greenspace Service and chairing the Board of Directors of Greenspace Scotland, he remains a strong advocate for environmental volunteering and community-led nature conservation. His present roles include providing biodiversity expertise to the EU’s European Green Capital and European Green Leaf programmes and when not in the city David is an enthusiastic traveller, hill walker and skier, regularly escaping to the mountains of Scotland, Europe and beyond.

Victoria Lancaster

Victoria is a Chartered Rural Surveyor and Area Land Agent for the North District of Forestry England, having worked previously in the private sector and for the National Trust. She is particularly interested in landscape scale regenerative land management, is a member of the innovative Wild Ennerdale team, and leads on rewilding partnership schemes. She has an English Literature MA from Edinburgh University and an HND in Countryside Management. She began her career working for Greenpeace, has lots of experience in the renewable energy sector, Board experience at the Lake District National Park Authority. and continues to be a passionate advocate for biodiversity and climate change mitigation. She lives north of Glasgow and in Cumbria, and loves swimming in the wild places of Scotland.

Dr Martyn Murray
Council Member

A scientist, conservationist and writer living on Lismore, Martyn worked on fig wasps in Malaysia and then ungulate grazing ecology in the Serengeti in the 1980s before working as biodiversity consultant for the EU. Travelling to remote areas of the world, he advised on conservation strategy, policy and the project cycle. He developed the EU’s ‘Key Landscapes for Conservation’ concept which led to his bioscape model of conservation to improve the effectiveness of protected areas whilst simultaneously enhancing rural livelihoods.

Ina Porras

Originally from Costa Rica, Ina has lived in Scotland for 20 years. As an environmental economist, her career began in Costa Rica on the onset of a revolutionary pathway that transformed, for the better, the country’s approach to nature and happiness. She moved to the UK in 1999 to work with a leading international Think Tank on environment and sustainable development in Latin America, Asia and Africa. In 2019 Ina moved to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (then DFID), where she helps mainstream Nature and Climate ambition and action across FCDO’s diplomatic and development portfolios. Ina is passionate about the environment, and -despite the rain and cold – adores the great Scottish outdoors.

Ro (Rowenna) Scott

Ro is a terrestrial ecologist with degrees in biology and environmental history. Now based in the Black Isle, she enjoyed a 30-year career in the statutory nature conservation sector in the Highlands. This included jobs advising on: deer management; Local Biodiversity Action Plans; and partnership working with NGOs. After retiring from Scottish Natural Heritage in 2008, she worked as a self-employed ecological consultant for ten years. Always actively involved in biological recording, with particular interests in higher plants and mammals, voluntary positions have included Chairing Highland Biological Recording Group and Inverness Botany Group.

Emma Steel
Council Member and Young Leader

Emma grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Stirlingshire and has a degree in Zoology and an MSc in Environmental Science, both from Aberdeen University. Currently, she works as Policy Officer for Whale and Dolphin Conservation, expanding the Shorewatch citizen science programme into the Northern Isles (Orkney, Shetland and Fair Isle). Shorewatch involves training and supporting local community volunteers to collect sightings data on whales, dolphins and porpoises. Based in Stromness, Orkney, Emma also volunteers as a Young Leader for the Scottish Wildlife Trust and is the Internal Communications Officer with A Focus On Nature. Emma is passionate about Scotland’s wildlife and enjoys spending time by the coast.

Alistair Whyte

Alistair is a nature conservationist with a background in land management and major ecological restoration project delivery. He has worked for the Wildlife Trusts, NatureScot, Forestry & Land Scotland, and RSPB, and is now Head of Plantlife Scotland, and convenor of Scottish Environment LINK’s Wildlife Group. He is an enthusiastic botanist and birdwatcher, with a particular interest in upland/montane environments, mountain woodland and mountain plant communities. He grew up in rural Angus and now lives in Perthshire.