Tim is Deputy Director, International Science at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Prior to this, for six years Tim was Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID), providing science advice to Ministers and overseeing portfolios of climate, energy, water, agriculture and health research and innovation to progress international development goals. He has also been Director for Research and Innovation at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the UK's main agency for funding and managing research in the environmental sciences, and International Director at UK Research & Innovation (UKRI). 

Tim has over 30 years’ experience of sustainable agriculture, food and climate change research, with specialist skills in forecasting climate risks to food production. Tim has been a Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords, and served as a member of Council for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and of the UK Government’s Leadership Councils for Agri-Tech and for Space. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading and an Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol. 

Working to combat homelessness across the world Matthew has decades of experience in senior leadership in the Humanitarian sector. Before working at Depaul International he worked at CAFOD to provide aid in areas of humanitarian crisis for over 20 years  including in the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Pakistan, Bosnia and Sri Lanka, Matthew worked for the Red Cross before joining CAFOD and running collaborative, multi-agency operations and initiatives including involvement with The Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA, Start Network).

He is a member of Caritas Humanitarian Council and Board member of the Start Network whilst his work on sector accountability has included being chair of Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) and chair of the global Joint Humanitarian Standards Initiative (JSI).

After setting up an aquaculture company (Llyn Aquaculture Ltd) based on post doctoral research at the University of Stellenbosch , South Africa, Rupert joined the civil service where he has worked for DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) and BIS (Business, Innovation and Skills) before becoming the Director at the UK Government’s Office for Science where he worked for almost 4 years until taking up the position of Director of Science Policy at the Royal Society. 

As the Director of Science at the Met Office, Simon is a member of the Executive Board and leads the Science directorate, with accountability for the Met Office’s world-leading research in Foundation, Weather and Climate Science and for developing underpinning capability for scientific products and services. This includes the Unified Model seamless modelling system for weather and climate science applications. 

Simon joined the Met Office in 2001 as a research scientist. Prior to this he was based at the University of Leeds (including stints at the University of Surrey) as a postdoctoral research fellow, latterly funded by the NERC postdoctoral fellowship scheme.  

Simon completed a PhD on the behaviour of orographic internal gravity waves at the Department of Applied Mathematical Studies, University of Leeds in 1995. Following this he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on a number of projects at the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds and at the University of Surrey. His experience includes participation in and coordination of field measurement programmes, fluid dynamical laboratory experiments and numerical modelling. 

Working for Aardman Animations before joining the Environmental Sector, Amy Robinson’s work has actively strengthened Bristol’s Sustainability and Environmental credentials. From working as a consultant to improve environmental and commercial outcomes at Eunomia, being Sustainable Development manager at Bordeaux Quay, undertaking voluntary roles at Bristol City Council’s Bristol Food Policy Council, and AgoraUK to her current job at Triodos Bank. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. 

Dickie Whitaker has 35 years’ experience in the Re(In)surance business and for the last 25 years has specialised in risk and innovation, linking academia, government and finance. He co-founded and works for The Lighthill Risk Network, Finexus Ltd Oasis Palm Tree Ltd, The Oasis Hub and is chief executive of Oasis Loss Modelling Framework Ltd. He sits on the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult Advisory Board, NERC’s Innovation Advisory Board, Institute for Environmental Analytics, Expert Group for the Global Risk Assessment Framework (GRAF) and the Insurance Development Forum Risk modelling. 

Elen Stokes is a Professor in Environmental Law at the University of Bristol Law School.  Elen's main areas of interest are environmental law and policy, with particular points of focus on the regulation of new technologies, and the relationship between law and time.  Her current work looks at how law structures experience of the future in the present.  Elen is a co-author of the Oxford University Press textbook Environmental Law (9e) and a reviews co-editor for the Journal of Environmental Law.   

Chris Preist is Professor of Sustainability and Computer Systems and University Academic Director for Sustainability at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on understanding the environmental impacts of digital technology using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and investigating means to reduce these – technical, organisational and policy. He contributed to the development of the DIMPACT assessment methodology, now widely used by digital service providers (https://dimpact.org/about). As University Academic Director, he is responsible for academic aspects of the university sustainability strategy, particularly supporting schools throughout the university to integrate discipline-appropriate sustainability educatioon into their degree programmes. Beyond academia, he is a husband, father, yoga teacher and ordained in the Zen lineage. 

Jane Memmott’s research interests in ecology include pollination ecology, invasion ecology, agro-ecology, biological control, urban ecology and restoration ecology.  A theme that runs through many of the projects is the use of ecological networks to as a tool to answer a variety of environmental questions.  For example does restoration ecology restore ecological function, are ecosystem services affected by farming approach and how do aliens integrate into ecological networks?  As both a pure and an applied ecologist she is particularly keen on working at the interface between the two disciplines.  A wide variety of techniques are used by her research group, from field observation to field experiment, from theory to molecular approaches. 

Further information about Jane Memmott’s research can be found on her lab's webpage. 

• Professor Phil Taylor, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise 
• Jen Jennings, Associate Director, Research Development 

Professor Guy Howard, Director 

Helen Thomas-Hughes, Director of Education 

Professor Juliet Biggs, Associate Director, Research and Communities 

Dr Alix Dietzel, Associate Director, Impact and Innovation 

Sophie Ross-Smith, Manager 

Angus Morrice, Administrator and PA to the Director