In:conversation Episode 4 – Changing seasons, pastures new: a look ahead to Environment Evidence 2020

Angelina Sanderson Bellamy is an ecologist and a research fellow at the Sustainable Places Research Institute, working on themes of sustainable food systems, land use changes, ecological resilience and ecosystem services. She uses a social-ecological framework and interdisciplinary methods (interviews, focus groups, observations and ecological sampling) to understand how people drive and respond to ecosystem changes. Before working at Cardiff University, Angelina worked at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Stanford University’s Wood’s Institute for the Environment. She has her undergraduate degree in Human Biology from Stanford and her PhD in Ecotoxicology from Stockholm University. Her experience draws from working across Latin American and UK food landscapes. She has worked on research projects in Wales (policy implementation of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience), the UK (novel approaches to creating more resilient regional food systems), Mexico (governance gaps between land use policy and coastal zone conservation), Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia (social and environmental impact of food certification), and Brazil (Sustainable soils: climate change mitigation practices for family farms).  

John joined NRW in 2016.  He is a member of the small Integrated Evidence Group which embraces all the main evidence specialisms including social science, statistics and operational research, and which operates in a collaborative transdisciplinary manner.  He is the                    Lead Economist.  Educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge and Birkbeck College, London; his previous experience includes 17 years at a Merchant Bank as a fund manager specialising in Asia Pacific equities.  Over a varied career he has been employed in the public, private and third sectors. John has also volunteered in the third sector throughout his adult life.

A graduate of University College Dublin, Catherine has lived on the Celtic fringe – Ireland, Scotland and Wales – working in the fields of environmental management and conservation.  Her scientific publications include a number of papers on Welsh protected areas, the current UK lake classification and a book on the rivers of Wales. She is a former Council Member of the Freshwater Biological Association. At the Countryside Council for Wales and Natural Resources Wales, Catherine has led groups of technical specialists covering marine, terrestrial and freshwater environments, providing evidence-based advice to underpin operations and policy development. At the moment, she is on secondment to the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee where she co-leads a team focused on UK nature conservation policy and advice. In the course of her career Catherine has developed an understanding of working on the science-policy interface, and has provided advice to government, European Commission and the Natural Environment Research Council. With a passion for history and heritage, she is currently serving as an Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales trustee.   

John Richards is Hybu Cig Cymru’s Industry Development and Relations Manager, responsible for the organisation’s extensive work in developing the red meat supply chain, including delivering the five-year, EU and Welsh Government funded Red Meat Development Programme. A native of Llandovery, John has long experience of working in agriculture. Trained as an agricultural economist, he served as Industry Information Executive with HCC, and previously worked at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society.