2024 AUTUMN CONFERENCE PROGRAMME 27^th & 28^th NOVEMBER

Restoring Forwards – Best Practices for Resilient Nature Restoration

SESSION 1. BETTER GOVERNANCE, BETTER OUTCOMES

Chair: Richard Handley CEcol MCIEEM, CIEEM President

Keynote:

International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration

George Gann CERP, Society for Ecological Restoration and The Institute for Regional Conservation

Better governance and ways to make decisions about restoration projects

Diana Pound CEnv FCIEEM, Dialogue Matters

Creating successful projects through programmatic action: aligning governance with best practice – a Scottish rainforest case study

Julia McCarthy MCIEEM, University of Edinburgh, and Dr Hannah Rudman FBCS FRSA, James Hutton Institute

SESSION 2. WATER AT THE HEART OF ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION

Chair: Jason Reeves CEnv MCIEEM, Head of Policy, CIEEM

Recovery and resilience or regression and relapse? The state of Britain’s streams and rivers

Prof Steve Ormerod CF CEcol FCIEEM FLSW FRSB FRES, Cardiff University Water Research Institute

Slow, store, filter: water at the heart of climate resilience and nature recovery

Dr Stewart Clarke CEcol MCIEEM, National Trust

The Wendling Beck Environment Project: involving farmers in nature recovery monitoring

Dr Jo Treweek CEnv MCIEEM, eCountability

Building on breakthroughs: 10 years of practical pond restoration action backed by scientific research.

Dr Helen Greaves, University College London / Norfolk Ponds Project

Drop-in workshop

Getting published: a workshop for aspiring ecology authors

Phil Dooner, British Ecological Society / Applied Ecology Resources & Dr James Vafidis MCIEEM, Cardiff University

Delegates will be asked to choose workshop choices three weeks before the conference. Choose one of four in-person workshops if attending in Cardiff. Online delegates will be able to choose between an online or hybrid workshop. Recordings of online and hybrid sessions will be available after the conference but we are unlikely to be able to record all parallel in-person workshops.

1.      Pond restoration workshop

Dr Helen Greaves and Prof Carl Sayer, University College London

2.      Reflections on Biodiversity Net Gain

Dr Justin Byrne MCIEEM, AiDash, and Ellesse Janda, University of Edinburgh

3.      Restoring ecologists

Dr Kath Allen, Kath Allen Coaching, and Luke Doherty, Mindful Peak Performance

4.      Creating a joined-up approach to Invasive Non-Native Species management and Biodiversity Net Gain

Daniel Docking, Property Care Association and Prof Max Wade CEcol CEnv FCIEEM, AECOM

5.      Lessons from community-based restoration

Chitisha Gunnoo, University of Mauritius, and Gareth Williams, Knepp Wildland Foundation

SESSION 4. ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION TOOLS AND APPROACHES

Chair: Dr Caroline McParland CEnv MCIEEM, Vice President (Scotland)

From sky to insight: revolutionising ecological understanding with remote sensing and AI

Lauren Weller MCIEEM, Hannah Williams MCIEEM, and Stephen Marland, AiDash

Adventures in ecological design and Biodiversity Net Gain – what can be learned from a large-scale green-infrastructure-led housing development?

Julian Arthur CEcol MCIEEM, Tyler Grange

The St Helena Cloud Forest Project

Stuart Jennings, RSPB

09:00 – Welcome and Introduction

AGM 09:00 – 09:55

SESSION 5: RESTORING NATURE AND PEOPLE

Chair: Dr Caroline McParland CEnv MCIEEM, Vice President (Scotland)

Collaborative rewilding: integrating stakeholder interests for optimal ecosystem restoration

Cain Blythe, Ecosulis and CreditNature

Invisible Friends: Can we enhance ecosystem restoration success and human wellbeing through microbial ecology?

Dr Jake Robinson, Flinders University

Good Practice Guidance for Ecological Restoration

Dr David Parker CEcol CEnv FCIEEM, and James Hicks CEcol CEnv MBiolSci MCIEEM 

CIEEM Ecological Restoration Special Interest Group

Delegates will be asked to choose workshop choices three weeks before the conference. Choose one of four in-person workshops if attending in Cardiff. Online delegates will be able to choose between an online or hybrid workshop. Recordings of online and hybrid sessions will be available after the conference but we are unlikely to be able to record all parallel in-person workshops.

1.     Net Benefits for Biodiversity – What’s occurring? How is the Welsh equivalent of BNG emerging across the border?

Craig Llewellyn MCIEEM CSJK, AtkinsRéalis, and CIEEM Wales Policy Group

2.      Risks and opportunities of Nutrient Neutrality for restoration

Dr Caroline Chapman FCIEEM, DTA Ecology, Maddy Czura and Dr Martina Girvan CEcol MCIEEM, Arcadis

3.      Funding and implementing marine restoration

–          Sustainable financing and innovation for seascape-scale restoration, Dr David Tudor MCIEEM, FIMarEST, PIEMA, Pelagos / Blue Marine Foundation

–          A nature-inclusive approach to coastal protection at Newlyn, Cornwall, Justin Ridgewell, Environment Agency

4.      Sourcing seeds and plants for ecological restoration

Nick Mann, Habitat Aid, Ted Chapman, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Matt Pitts and Dr Sarah Robinson, Plantlife

SESSION 7: RESTORING LANDSCAPES

Chair: Jason Reeves CEnv MCIEEM, Head of Policy, CIEEM

Nature recovery or butterfly gardening? Culture clashes on the journey towards landscape scale restoration

Richard Barnes MCIEEM and Mathew Frith CEnv MCIEEM, London Wildlife Trust

The role of brownfield land in nature restoration

Alan Carter MRICS FRSA, The Land Trust

Delivering the gold standard in process-led nature restoration

Rachel Blount, Nattergal

SESSION 8: RESTORING, REALIGNING, AND REWILDING THE COAST

Chair: Penny Lewns CEcol CEnv MCIEEM, CIEEM President

Wallasea Island: showing why and how to rewild the coast

Colin Scott MCIEEM, ABPmer

The Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme: delivering landscape-scale intertidal habitat

Laura Thomas CEcol MCIEEM, JBA Consulting

ReMeMaRe – from building foundations to taking practical action for estuarine & coastal habitat restoration

Jon Davies, Environment Agency