Dear Resident,
I’ve lived in Wealden since 2009 having worked overseas for much of the previous 20 years. I trained as an ecologist at King’s College (University of London), followed by a PhD at Imperial College and the Natural History Museum looking at biodiversity in the rainforests of Borneo.
Since then, I have worked in Indonesia including as a researcher on the fascinating biology of figs, forest regeneration and sustainable forest management in the 1990s, and then increasingly on governance, policy and development related issues including reconstruction in Aceh following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, peatland management and restoration including pulp and oil palm plantations, and how to combine conservation with economic development.
I have filled a range of leadership and technical roles over the years, sometimes being responsible for teams of 100-200+ staff with multi-million pound budgets. Much of the work has involved bringing new knowledge and science into policy and management practice, including the commissioning of applied research and surveys, master planning and bringing different groups from communities, government and the private sector together to build shared understanding and cooperative action, experience that would be useful as a district councillor.
I love living in Wealden and since 2017 have been a Conservator of Ashdown Forest. I am married to Lorna, have three children and two dogs.
I hope I can count on your vote on May 4th!
best wishes,
Nick