Honorary Fellows

Alastair’s involvement with LINK began in 1988 as Director of the Scottish Field Studies Association (Kindrogan) before moving to become Head of Education at RSPB Scotland.  He served on the Board and was Vice Chair, contributing to LINK’s organisational development. He convened LINK’s Education working group in the late 80s/early 90s, which evolved into the Sustainable Development Education Network and became a separate organisation. Throughout his career he continued to lend support to LINK on education policy matters, and to ENGO education partnerships.   Alastair retired in 2010, and maintains his interest in sustainable development education, NGO while pursuing his research interests, primarily on spiders.

Andrew was appointed an Honorary Fellow in 2019.

In the early 1980s Andrew joined the Nature Conservancy Council in Ayrshire, later moving to the Highlands and Aberdeen (with SNH). In 1994 Andrew was appointed Operations Director Scotland for the Woodland Trust. He later became Director of Countryside with NTS. During this period he was active in LINK and Chaired the working group on National Parks. Re-joining SNH in 2002, where he worked until 2017, he held key posts including posts as Director of Operations and Director of Policy and Advice. In 2017 he joined JMT as the Chief Executive. He retired in late 2019 and is now engaged in voluntary activity for a number of causes

Andrew was as a member of the LINK Board for over eight years, and contributed to the changing the funding model and encouraging the membership to support it. He represented Woodland Trust Scotland for more than 18 years and over that time contributed to the agriculture, fundraising, access, land reform, woodland, planning, deer and economics task forces. He was a keen supporter of the need for LINK to get involved in the economics debate, and was amongst key contributors to the early Economics Forum and the start of the Flourishing Scotland Project in 2013. Leaving WTS in 2014, Andrew now runs his own business testing new buildings for energy efficiency.

Andy was employed by LINK as Advocacy Manager from 1999 to his retirement in 2015 during which time he informed LINK’s strategic thinking around political engagement and legal-environmental matters and prior to this as a member of RSPB’s staff (working through LINK’s then Scottish parliamentary group). Andy retains an informed and active interest in environmental issues.

Now largely retired, Bob combined a career as a countryside management consultant with voluntary involvement in NGOs and on public bodies. He served 15 years as Chair of the now-defunct Scottish Countryside Activities Council, a LINK founder organisation, but has also been involved at intervals over 50 years with JMT, MS, NTS, SCNP and ScotWays, as well as the LINK Board. After serving on various public bodies preparing the ground for Scotland’s National Parks, he was a founding member for 8 years of the Board of the Lomond-Trossachs Park.

Campbell is a geographer, with a Ph.D in glaciology. He is now an international environment consultant and advocate. With over 30 years post-doctoral experience of working in the environment, mostly in public service environment protection, development and European policy roles, he was SEPA Chief Executive for nine years before playing a similar role in South Australia. For seven years, Campbell managed the largest community forest project in the UK, where he first started working with LINK and several of its members in the early 90s. He is currently Deputy Chair of the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, undertakes mediation work and has provided consultancy input for several governments and agencies, including the World Bank and EEA, and to clients in Scotland, across the EU and in Australia. Campbell has affiliations (visiting, adjunct or honorary professorships) with the Universities of Glasgow, Stirling, Strathclyde and South Australia.

Claudia served 10 years in the Scottish Parliament for South Scotland as a Labour MSP. She served on numerous parliamentary committees including Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment and was her party spokesperson on climate change, environment and land reform. Claudia is currently Scottish Labour Special Advisor on CoP26. Prior to being an MSP she was Chair of SERA Scotland, a community activist supporting national action against inappropriate opencast mining and an Ecoschools Coordinator. She brings considerable experience in Holyrood and policy making in many areas relevant to LINK and its members.

Coralie is a dendrochronologist and environmental archaeologist working in Scotland since 1988. Her interests lie in ‘biocultural heritage’, at the interface between trees, landscapes, people and the past in Scotland.  Coralie set up her consultancy Dendrochronicle in 2009. Previously she was Executive Director at AOC Archaeology. Two Dendrochronicle Historic Woodland Surveys are used by FCS as best practice guides. Dendrochronological investigations of historic buildings and woodlands are also undertaken.

As a Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, Coralie recently worked on the SCOT2K native pine dendrochronology project contributing to the understanding of woodland history and climate change in Scotland and NW Europe. Coralie is a committee member of the Native Woodlands Discussion Group, serving as chair from 2012-2015. She has previously served on committees of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (Scottish Group) and the Association for Environmental Archaeology

Dave was among the founding partners of the network and represented Ramblers’ Scotland until his retirement in 2014.  A formidable campaigner, he has wide-ranging natural heritage expertise, particularly on access issues, from which Scotland’s current access laws hugely gained. He was at the forefront of several LINK campaigns and for much of the 90s represented LINK on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

David worked for RSPB Scotland in the 80s and 90s, a founder member of LINK and a key player in its establishment. He served on the Board, was Vice-Chair, and developed LINK’s constitution, subscriptions and others systems which benefitted from his management skills, and have stood the test of time.  David no longer bides in Scotland, but supports LINK in spirit.

Deborah has had significant involvement with LINK over a long period of time, a former board member between 2004 and 2014 including a term as Vice Chair and four years as Chair, convener of the Wildlife Subgroup for many years, co-convener of the new Land Group, and delegate on various stakeholder groups over that time. Deborah worked with Plantlife for over 14 years but left at the end of 2016 to start a new job based at Dundee University as Programme Director at GROW Observatory, a citizen science programme, supported by EU Horizon 2020.  Deborah has now returned to LINK, appointed as Chief Officer as of 28 January 2019.

Dan began his association with LINK in the late 90s and he was elected to the Board in 2004. Subsequent to that　 Dan became Vice-Chair in 2010, stepping down in 2013. He has held a range of policy, research and management roles with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Friends of the Earth Scotland and WWF.　 Over the years he contributed strategically to LINK on policy and advocacy across a wide sustainable development agenda and as a trustee helped the team on the practicalities of matching network aspirations with available resources.　 Since then Dan has worked for the Scottish Parliament as a Senior Researcher on Climate Change and Resource Use and now manages ClimateXChange, Scotland’s Centre of Expertise based at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation.

Helen served as LINK  President from 2008 until 2011. She was Director of Public Health with Lothian Health Board from 1988 to 2000 and Honorary Senior Lecturer with Edinburgh University at the same time. She has a strong interest in the environment and sustainability, serving on the steering group of the Healthy Environment Network, the Board of NHS Health Scotland and the SEPA Board, member of the Physical Activity Task Force, and a past chair of Friends of the Earth Scotland.  She was a founding member of the Doctors and Overpopulation Group in the 60s and of the Medical Campaign against Nuclear Weapons in the 80s.

Richard has a long association with LINK in his former role of Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust for Scotland where he had responsibility for developing and implementing policy on nature conservation and planning monitoring and conservation work on all NTS properties from 1998-2019. His main areas of interest included seabirds, deer/upland management, woodland regeneration, marine conservation, peatlands/carbon management, geology.   Prior to that he was Head of Habitats Unit of United Nations Environment Programme-WCMC from 1990-1998 coordinating programmes on Tropical Forests, Coral Reefs, Temperate Forests and Arctic ecosystems and developed an international database for rapid response to environmental emergencies. Richard was Head of Wildlife Trade Monitoring Unit at IUCN from 1983 – 1990 specialising in ivory and reptile skin trade and was appointed to CITES International Panel of Experts advising on ivory trade. Richard co-authored specialist books on Sea turtles, Crocodile farming, Monitor Lizards and Pythons in SE Asia, International Trade in Parrots and Environmental Economics.  Richard was assistant Salmon Farm Manager for Marine Harvest, W. Scotland from 1981-83 and gained a PhD in marine ecology while working for the British Antarctic Survey, with fieldwork in South Orkney Islands (1976-1981).  Richard studied biology and geology at Cambridge University.

Richard was appointed an Honorary Fellow in 2019.

Sam is Head of Climate Change and Sustainability at Scottish Power. Sam has served as co-opted trustee on LINK Board for 3 years. Before that he was active on a number of LINK Groups, including marine and wildlife and he served on LINK Board for 5 years, as representative for WWF Scotland, where he was Head of Policy and then acting Director of WWF Scotland. Sam brings knowledge and experience both of working within the eNGO sector in Scotland and also in business. He is currently Chair of Edinburgh Climate Commission. 

Drennan was LINK founding chairman, and led the network for its first 5 years as it developed from earlier roots as an informal association.  He has worked as educator, author and consultant on land use and ecology, with considerable experience in Scottish and beyond. A native Glaswegian settled in Aberdeenshire, he founded the North East Mountain Trust, was a founder member of the Cairngorms Campaign and is a past president of Scottish Countryside Rangers Association. He continues to contribute to several LINK work areas.

Eila retired as Director of Archaeology Scotland in August 2022. Having led Archaeology Scotland as Director for 18 years, Eila has a wealth of experience in management, fundraising, strategic planning, archaeology, museums and community engagement.

Elizabeth was involved in LINK from the early 1990s until 2012 as a representative of WWF Scotland. Her facilitation and management skills were put to use as convener of an early LINK Transport working group which grew into the wider forum, TRANSform Scotland. She convened the Marine taskforce for several years and contributed to the Freshwater taskforce efforts to influence the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, and to the Land Reform taskforce ahead of the first Scottish legislation. More recently she convened the Local Governance taskforce from 2009-11, overseeing LINK’s contribution to Single Outcome Agreements as delivery mechanisms for a range of environmental goods and duties. She is an independent consultant and currently chairs the grants panel of the Climate Challenge Fund.

Ian Findlay had been a trustee  of LINK for over 10 years before stepping down from the Board. Ian was appointed an Honorary Fellow in 2017. He has led the charity Paths for All (a LINK Organisational Supporter) since 2003. His degree is in Ecological Science and Wildlife Management.

Ian died on 5th March 2021.  Read our memories of Ian here

James has a background in environmental science – particularly meteorology, oceanography and hydrology. Early in his career he designed and installed an automatic weather station which still operates on the summit of Cairngorm. Through various posts within government and agencies, he became Chief Executive of SEPA, retiring in 2015. For a while he also founded and ran an eco-store/cafe in Glasgow. He has been an honorary professor of Stirling University and has chaired the WWF Scotland advisory council and the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, he was a board member of SNIFFER, and also served on many groups such as the Ministerial zero waste task team, green growth group, and expert panel on unconventional oil and gas. James has a long-standing concern about climate change, being a UK government reviewer of IPCC reports, and served as a non-exec on the Scottish Government’s climate change delivery board. He is currently Chair of the James Hutton Institute, on the board of the Green Purposes Company which oversees the recently-privatised Green Investment Bank, chairs Climate Ready Clyde, and has very recently prepared a climate change action plan for the Isle of Man Government.

Jill was elected to the Board in 1992 and was Treasurer until 1998, representing Archaeology Scotland on LINK.  She provided hands on support to staff for fundraising and voluntarily managed the organisation for a spell in 1993 (maternity cover). She has since worked as an archaeologist for the National Trust for Scotland, as an independent consultant and joined RSPB Scotland as an archaeologist in 2013.

Jonathan (Jonny) Hughes is currently the CEO of WCMC, UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, based in Cambridge. Prior to this Jonny was the CEO of the Scottish Wildlife Trust for 5 years having previously worked for the Woodland Trust and Westminster City Council.

From September 2012 to June 2020, Jonny was an elected global Councillor of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) where for four years he chaired the Council’s policy and programme committee and the EU policy advisory group. He is also a non-Executive Director of Corrour Estate, a large upland estate in Scotland, and chair of the Ecological Advisory Board of Ardtornish Estate. He is also chair of two Trusts within the People’s Postcode Lottery family – the Postcode Heroes Trust and Postcode Sports Trust.

Since being fascinated by wildlife from the age of four, Jonny has devoted his life to helping create a world where nature and people prosper together. Throughout his career he has pioneered new ideas in nature conservation, challenged received wisdom and focused on turning words into action.

He holds a B.A in Geography and Biology from Keele University, an MSc in Ecology completed at the University of Florence on an Erasmus scholarship and is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. In April 2019, Jonny became an Ambassador for the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Jonny plays squash, tennis, five a side football and table football. Other interests include Italian Renaissance art, early 20th century American literature and urban design.
Jonny and his partner Emmi Hartikainen have three children, two twin boys and a daughter.

Jonny was appointed an Honorary Fellow in 2019.

Jonathan contributed strongly across LINK’s work areas during his eleven years with Archaeology Scotland as Rural Land Use Adviser, expertly contributing a historic environment perspective where it inter-relates with natural environment and landscape concerns. He retired from the policy arena in 2015.

Joyce was LINK’s Honorary President from November 2015 to December 2019, on retiring from this role Joyce was appointed an Honorary Fellow.

Joyce was born in Renfrewshire and educated at Paisley Grammar School and St. Andrews University. She has been a journalist, theatre critic and political commentator for more than 30 years, writing for The Scotsman, Scotland On Sunday, The Herald and The Guardian, and broadcasting regularly on BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 4. In the 1990’s, she chaired the Constitutional Commission, a sub-committee of the Scotland’s Constitutional Convention, and in 1997-99 she was part of the Scottish Office Consultative Steering Group on structures and procedures for the new Scottish Parliament. From 2001-2004 she was Convener of the Scottish Civic Forum, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Hansard Society, the London-based think tank specialising in parliamentary democracy. Throughout her working life, she has been involved in both Scottish and international campaign for peace, democracy and human rights; she holds an honorary degree of D. Litt. from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, for her services to Scottish theatre, and from 2006-2010 was a visiting professor in the University’s department of theatre and creative industries. In 2019 she received an honorary degree of D. Litt from the University of St. Andrews, for services to Scottish theatre, journalism, and public life.

As Director of FoE Scotland Kevin convened LINK’s first Parliamentary Group and helped to provide support for the Parliamentary Officer post from 1999.  He was among key players in LINK’s Quarry Group which was instrumental in seeing off the Lingerbay superquarry proposal. He was a Board member of Scottish Natural Heritage. Having prominently campaigned with FOE Scotland for a  Freedom of Information Act, Kevin became the first Scottish Information Commissioner (2003-2012). He is now Honorary Professor at Dundee University’s Centre for Freedom of Information, and conducts international consultancy on the implementation of freedom of information laws worldwide. He has written a number of books including Troublemakers -the Struggle for Environmental Justice in Scotland and Freedom of Information in Scotland in Practice.

Lloyd has had a long engagement with LINK.  Having worked for RSPB Scotland for over 28 years, he has served on many LINK groups, including the board for 15 years and its Chair for three years.  He continues to have a role in convening the LINK Governance Group and leading its work on Brexit.

He is an experienced environmental policy analyst and advocate.  With over 30 years’ experience working for NGOs, Lloyd has a demonstrable track record in influencing legislation and policy development.  With NGOs or NGO umbrella groups, primarily in Scotland but also at UK level and overseas, he has worked as an expert in environmental law and policy. He has worked in areas such as nature conservation, climate change, marine management, planning and environmental justice/governance.  He has been engaged in or led NGO arguments in several major planning cases, up to and including Judicial Review.  He has presented both written and oral evidence to UK and Scottish Parliamentary Committees and to Public Local Inquiries.

Mark’s commitment to the promotion of environmental sustainability has informed his public life as an elected representative, most recently as MP for Edinburgh North & Leith between 2001 and 2015.  Mark was a member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, actively contributing its reports, which have been widely welcomed by the environmental policy community and campaigners. He was also involved in work to promote environmental sustainability at international level. Mark is keen to apply his knowledge and experience on a wide range of environmental issues.  Mark has good contacts at Scottish and UK levels, experience of European institutions and of working with NGOs in the UK. At a personal level, he is active in promoting community energy in Edinburgh, and in local environmental projects there. He was a leading Edinburgh City Councillor for many years, with a strong record in promoting walking, cycling, and sustainable transport. He is a practising advocate at the Scottish bar.

Michael joined LINK as Plantlife’s representative in the 80’s. He was elected to the Board and was Chair of LINK for 4 years until 1999.  He subsequently appointed as Deputy Chair of SNH from 1999-2005, and served on high level biodiversity related government committees, nationally and internationally.  He has now largely retired as a writer, broadcaster and educator on natural heritage issues, but spends part of the year as a guest speaker, mainly on natural history topics, on cruise ships all round the world. He was awarded an OBE in 2005 “for services to biodiversity conservation in Scotland”.

A long-time contributor to LINK and its work, including setting up FORGE (now Scottish Environmental Fundraisers Forum) whilst with RSPB, and 9 years contributing to Board thinking around strategy, profile/marketing, funding and relationship- building to widen our reach as a sector.  Mike has been actively engaged in Scottish environmental causes for around 25 years, working for and as a trustee of a wide range of ENGOs and within a number of government advisory groups.  He set up and Chaired Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, is an active Board Member of several other charities, and is currently CEO of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Pat Monaghan is currently the Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow. She did her PhD on seabirds at Durham University. Pat is an internationally recognised scientist, who has received a number of awards for her work. She runs a well-funded research programme concerned with how environmental changes influence animal life histories. This is primarily on birds, including seabirds and passerines, but has also included work on insects, amphibians, fish and mammals. Her research is multidisciplinary, and spans population level changes through to molecular mechanisms. Pat has a long standing interest in nature conservation, and has been involved with several conservation bodies including Scottish Natural Heritage and its predecessors, The RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology, as well as scientific societies. She has supervised over 40 PhD students, many of whom have gone on to very successful careers in the conservation world.

Paul served for 10 years in the Scottish Parliament for South Scotland as an SNP MSP. He has held Ministerial positions in Energy, Connectivity and the Islands; Business, Innovation and Energy; Environment and Climate Change. He has served on numerous committees in Holyrood including he Finance Committee. Paul was awarded Politician of the Year in the 2015 Nature of Scotland Awards.

Neil chaired LINK for 3 years from 2000 following a distinguished career in the British Navy, after his tenure chairing Caledonian MacBrayne. During his time with LINK Neil led initial meetings with businesses and their networks, and contributed a business planning perspective to LINK itself. He is on the boards of several schools and of the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust, and is a former chair of the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Richard retired as Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland in April 2022. With 30 years experience leading both FoES and WWF Scotland, Richard has very high levels of experience in policy and leadership in the eNGO sector in Scotland. He currently sits on the Board of Environment Standards Scotland and works as an environment consultant. 

Roger has spent a long and distinguished career within the public sector as a research worker, as a Government adviser and administrator, and as the founder CEO of Scottish Natural Heritage. He is now an environmental strategy and policy adviser, charity volunteer, writer, speaker and campaigner on the environment working in Scotland, Iceland and internationally www.rogercrofts.net. Roger brings significant experience and knowledge from across his career, including from IUCN UK Committee, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, different LINK member body boards and through his work at the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. His contribution has been recognised through a number of awards, fellowships and honorary professorships.

Ross served as LINK President from November 2011 until he retired from this role in November 2015.  Ross remains within the LINK network as an Honorary Fellow. Ross was an MSP from 1999-2011 and Cabinet Minister for Rural Affairs 1999-2001 and then Rural Development and the Environment from 2001 to 207.  Amongst the strategies he had responsibility for developing and implementing were those on Sustainable Development; Climate Change and National Waste Ross Is currently Chair of Food Standards Scotland, Vice- Chair of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board and a non-executive member of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.

As a chartered Town Planner Sally spent the early years of her career working as a policy planner in Scottish local government. In 1990 she joined the Civil Service and held a number of roles, mostly in environmental policy. During her time with the Scottish Government she led the implementation of the access rights legislation, worked with LINK member organisations and others to ensure delivery of Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy, and Scotland’s response to international biodiversity obligations, and led the development of Scotland’s first Land Use Strategy. From 2017 to 2020 Sally was Director of People and Nature, and Chief Scientist at NatureScot and worked to ensure that nature lay at the heart of decision making, most crucially in support of Scotland’s response to the twin challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. Sally retired in late 2020. She is a trustee of the Andrew Raven Trust and of Plantlife International.

Stuart joined RSPB in 1976 and worked on species protection and wildlife trade issues, before being appointed to lead the charities policy development and advocacy programme. Stuart helped found Wildlife and Countryside Link and played a major role alongside other NGO partners during debates on the Wildlife and Countryside Bill in Westminster. In 1985 he became Head of Conservation Planning for RSPB.

In 1994 Stuart was appointed to the RSPB’s UK Board, as the Director of RSPB Scotland. He led RSPB Scotland through a period of considerable growth in membership and capacity. He and his team of some 350 staff managed a conservation estate of some 65,000Ha, from Dumfries and Galloway to Shetland, as well as a growing research programme and policy advocacy to further the conservation of birds and biodiversity. (more…)

Tricia is the retired Director of Environment and Business at the Environment Agency and a former chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Tricia brings over 35 years experience in environmental management and sustainable development.