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Dr Matthew Struebig is a Reader in Conservation Science at the University of Kent, where he leads the Tropical Defaunation Hub and research on other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) across Southeast Asia. His research examines how tropical biodiversity responds to forest degradation, restoration, and changing land use, with a particular focus on forest–agriculture mosaics and community-managed landscapes. He develops interdisciplinary approaches that combine biodiversity monitoring, spatial analysis, and social science methods to explore trade-offs and synergies among conservation, climate mitigation, and livelihood goals. This work places him at the interface of research, conservation practice, and emerging nature-finance approaches, developing robust evidence, monitoring protocols, and decision-support tools to assess biodiversity outcomes. He was awarded a scientific medal by the Zoological Society of London for his outstanding contributions to conservation science and zoology.

Robin Chazdon is Professor Emerita in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut (1988-2016) and Adjunct Research Professor with the Forest Research Institute and Tropical Forests and People Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Her long-term and ongoing collaborative research focuses on natural regeneration of tropical forests, forest and landscape restoration, and ecosystem services provided by forests. She is an active member of the FAO Task Force on Best Practices for the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Dr Chazdon is a Senior Fellow with the World Resources Institute Global Restoration Initiative and serves as director of the Assisted Natural Regeneration Alliance. She is the project manager for Assisted Regeneration Capacity Development Programs for the GEF8 Ecosystem Restoration Integration Program. She is an Honorary Member of the British Ecological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. In addition to her sole-authored book Second Growth, she has co-edited two books and published 291 peer reviewed papers and book chapters.

Geertje van der Heijden is Professor of Forest Ecology and Global Change at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on the drivers of forest productivity, carbon sequestration and resilience to global environmental change, with particular expertise in tropical forests. She combines long-term field experiments, forest monitoring and ecological modelling to understand how factors such as lianas, drought and forest regeneration influence ecosystem function and carbon cycling. Her work contributes to improving predictions of forest responses to climate change and informs strategies for conserving and restoring forest ecosystems worldwide.

Kate has worked at Kew since 2002 and for Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership since 2007. She has a PhD in restoration ecology and is the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership’s Restoration Ecology Coordinator. This role involves supporting the Millennium Seed Bank’s partners world-wide to combat biodiversity loss, through delivering solutions to seed-based ecological restoration, with a particular emphasis on enhancing, expanding and supporting the supply and use of native seeds. Kate’s research interests have focused on the use of seeds in ecological restoration of tropical forests and temperate grasslands and native seed supply systems and markets.

Jennifer Lucey is Deputy Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative and a Senior Researcher in biodiversity and sustainable agriculture at the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford. Her research develops nature-based solutions to transform agricultural landscapes, supporting biodiversity, resilient ecosystems, and sustainable food production. She works at the science–policy–practice interface, collaborating with industry, governments, and NGOs to co-develop research that meets stakeholder needs. An internationally recognised authority on biodiversity and forests in oil palm landscapes, she has served on advisory groups including the RSPO Biodiversity and High Conservation Value Working Group, the NERC Scientific Advisory Network, and the High Carbon Stock Approach Scientific Advisory Committee. She leads Oxford's Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub and a new partnership with the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil Standard to advance knowledge, innovation, and policy for an inclusive, climate-resilient, and nature-positive palm oil sector.

Dr Sarah Scriven is a conservation scientist and ecologist on the Technical Team at Permian Global, where she provides technical expertise in biodiversity monitoring, survey design, data analysis and reporting across large-scale forest carbon projects, including the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project (KRCP) in Sabah, Malaysia and the Katingan Mentaya Project (KMP) in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. She has over ten years' experience delivering applied ecological research, including roles at the University of York and the University of Oxford, and collaborative work with the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP). Her background spans biodiversity monitoring, landscape connectivity and identifying priority areas for protection, with a focus on translating ecological evidence into practical recommendations for conservation management and policy. She has worked across forested and agricultural landscapes with NGOs, industry, government agencies and international field teams, embedding evidence-led conservation into decision-making and strengthening the link between science, policy and on-the-ground delivery.

Associate Professor Dr Wan Shafrina Wan Mohd Jaafar is Head of the Earth Observation Centre at the Institute of Climate Change, National University of Malaysia. She leads research on the application of airborne and spaceborne LiDAR, Earth observation, and geospatial analytics for tropical forest monitoring, forest landscape restoration, carbon assessment, and climate change. She obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh and was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award, serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, USA (2024/2025). She advises to the Government of Malaysia on strategic environmental and geospatial issues, including transboundary pollution, land reclamation, and international boundary delimitation. She represents Malaysia in the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Committee on the Environment (MSJCE), serves as an Expert Panel Member of the National Geoinformation/Geomatics Research Technical Committee under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Malaysia and is the National Secretary of the Institution of Geospatial and Remote Sensing Malaysia (IGRSM).

Neil Burgess is a conservation scientist who worked extensively in Africa, particularly East and West Africa on tropical forest conservation. He was based in Africa off and on for over 20 years, mainly in Tanzania. Since 2010 he has worked more at the science/policy interface and has blended field based insights of conservation in Africa with the needs of international conservation policy and its implementation at country and business levels. He is the Chief Scientist at UNEP-WCMC (UNEPs specialised biodiversity agency based in Cambridge) and a Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Indy Stephenson is Biodiversity MRV Manager at rePLANET, leading on the design and implementation of biodiversity monitoring on their nature restoration and preservation projects around the world. Her primary focus is ensuring that monitoring methods are robust and tailored to meet the rigorous standards necessary for high-quality carbon and biodiversity credits projects.

Phil is a conservation scientist and Senior Vice President at BeZero Carbon, the carbon ratings agency. He leads the geospatial science function, overseeing the integration of satellite and field data in independent evaluations of natural climate solutions across more than 100 countries. His work assesses carbon stocks and change, counterfactual baselines, fire monitoring, and climate risk. Phil holds an honorary position at the University of York and has authored over 50 scientific papers, alongside technical reports for the United Nations and IUCN. His fieldwork in Africa, research, and commentary have featured in National Geographic, The Guardian, and the World Economic Forum.

Harry is an environmental practitioner working as a Senior Nature Officer at Plan Vivo. He is part of the team that developed the PV Nature Biodiversity Standard. This mechanism allows community- and smallholder-led conservation projects to issue certified biodiversity certificates. The standard seeks to balance scientific rigour in measurement with accessibility for community-led projects. It currently has 11 pipeline projects nearing certification across many different parts of the world. Many of these projects are currently baselining in accordance with the PV Nature methodology. Harry has an interdisciplinary professional and academic background spanning conservation, international relations, and education. He spent over a decade working in Colombia before returning to the UK in 2022 to join Plan Vivo.