Prof. Dr. Marco Heurich

Prof. Dr. Marco Heurich is Head of the Department of National Park Monitoring and Animal Management at the Bavarian Forest National Park Administration and Professor for Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Biology at the University of Freiburg and the University of Inland Norway. His research focuses on the ecology, behaviour, and conservation of large mammals, with a particular emphasis on the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). He integrates innovative monitoring methods, such as GPS telemetry, camera trapping, and remote sensing, to understand lynx population dynamics and promote effective conservation strategies. Prof. Heurich is Chair of the EuroLynx Initiative and collaborates widely across Europe to advance transboundary lynx research, habitat connectivity, and coexistence between humans and large carnivores.

Duncan Hutt, Director of Conservation at Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Duncan Hutt has worked for Northumberland wildlife Trust in a number of roles but most recently as Director of Conservation overseeing the conservation, land management, species projects and Northumberland Peat Parnership. Over the past year his role has also included the estate management of the Rothbury Estate, an exciting joint RSWT, NWT project working on the acquisition of a 3800ha estate in the heart of Northumberland. 

Duncan's first major project was on the internationally important Border Mires as part of a first concerted effort to restore these peatlands in Kielder Forest. He has been the lead for NWT in the Missing Lynx project working alongside Lifescape and RSWT in investigating the social acceptability of returning these iconic creatures to the English countryside. 

Craig Bennett - Chief Executive at The Wildlife Trusts

Craig has been described as “one of the country’s top environmental campaigners”, by The Guardian as “the very model of a modern eco-general” and, in 2021, was included in The Sunday Times Green Power List of the UK’s top 20 environmentalists.

Craig was formerly CEO of Friends of the Earth where he refocussed the organisation to empower communities to take action on the climate & ecological crises, resulting in a step change in the scale and impact of the movement, with over 200 new Friends of the Earth community groups set up during his tenure. He also led the organisation to numerous campaign victories including on bees, fracking and against the expansion of Heathrow Airport.

Earlier in his career, Craig was Deputy Director at The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), and Director of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (from 2007 to 2010) which he transformed into one of the most progressive business voices on the international climate change agenda.

He is Honorary Professor of Sustainability and Innovation at Alliance Manchester Business School, an Associate Fellow of Homerton College (Cambridge), a Senior Associate of The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and a Policy Fellow of The Centre for Science and Policy at The University of Cambridge. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.