📅 Wednesday 26th November 2025 | 🕐 13:00–14:00
🔗 Click here to join the meeting on MS Teams
Future of UK Treescapes: Improving trees, woods and forests for the benefit of people and nature
In 2024, the UK Treescapes Programme commissioned the public participation charity Involve to find out what a cross section of citizens felt about our treescapes and how future forest and woodland should evolve over the next 50 years. The UK Treescapes Public Dialogue recognised that developing treescapes for future resilience is a communal endeavour and that it will only be possible to plant and care for trees at scale with public involvement and support.
In this talk:
- Julie Urqhardt (UK Treescapes Programme Ambassador) will explain the commissioning of the Dialogue, and how it fits into the objectives of the wider Future of UK Treescapes Programme, helping to address key evidence gaps.
- Daisy Thompson (Engagement Lead at Involve) will describe how the Dialogue was run. She’ll also present what the Dialogue revealed overall, and share the findings developed from working with citizens in Wales.
About the Speakers
Julie is an Associate Professor in Environmental Social Science at the Countryside & Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire. Her work tackles a critical challenge in environmental governance: understanding the motivations and behaviours of those managing natural resources. From foresters and farmers to fishers, ensuring that local stakeholders and communities have meaningful influence over their environments is integral to their wellbeing and their futures. She leads a portfolio of interdisciplinary research projects and serves as a Treescapes Ambassador. Her research bridges social science and natural resource policy, with a focus on co-producing knowledge and tools alongside industry, community groups, and policymakers.
Daisy is an experienced engagement lead at Involve with a focus on social justice and impact. She has delivered a range of deliberative and participatory processes, including the citizens’ assembly on policing with Waltham Forest and the current National Gallery citizens’ assembly on art and culture. Prior to Involve, Daisy worked in the civil service in policy roles on disability support, devolved tax policy, and court reform. She was private secretary to the Brexit secretary before taking a role in Grenfell recovery at MHCLG. Daisy developed the strategy for government decision-making on Grenfell Tower and managed the community-led process to agree on a future memorial. Her recent MPhil (Anthropocene Studies, Cambridge) examined climate science and policy in the public forum.