William Sutherland

Bill Sutherland is at heart a birdwatcher and naturalist who has become committed to improving the planet. He is delighted to hold the Miriam Rothschild Chair in Conservation Biology, University of Cambridge, where he was part of the team that created the Cambridge Conservation Initiative housed in The David Attenborough Building,

He is a Professorial Fellow at St Catharine’s College, has been President of the British Ecological Society, was on the Board of The Society for Conservation Biology and was one of four who created the journal Conservation Letters. He has written six books (they make perfect birthday presents), edited five others, published over 500 scientific papers and is a highly cited researcher.

For much of his career he was a standard research ecologist, although with interests in applying research to conservation questions, and busy producing papers and books. Over the last two decades he has become increasingly involved in linking science and policy through horizon scanning, exercises setting priority questions, improving the use of experts in decision making and especially his obsession with evidence-based conservation. He is determined to improve global conservation practice radically.