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Tim Liddon BSc Hons FICFor
Tim is recently retired from his post on the Tilhill Board as Forestry Director where he continued to seek solutions and to raise standards in forestry – from large scale re afforestation, weevil and deer management to protecting the workforce and the environment. Having studied Forestry in Aberdeen graduating in 1980, he went on to join Tilhill as a forest manager. Key career achievements include community woodland creation in Teeside, planning and delivering the Eskdalemuir Timber haul road in 2007 and then in 2009 promotion to Regional Manager for Scotland and responsibility for forestry and landscaping. During Tim’s time in Yorkshire he was also Chairman Yorkshire Division Royal Forestry Society – 1996-1998. In 2014 he became a founder Director of the then Sitka Spruce Breeding Cooperative (now the Conifer Breeding Cooperative), which is a public private partnership to ensure the improvement of productive Conifer continues.
Tim will be joined by three more new trustees:
Professor David Burslem
David is Professor of Forest Ecology and Diversity at the University of Aberdeen, and Keeper of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden and Arboretum. He was recently appointed interim Director of the University’s Inter-disciplinary Centre for Environment and Biodiversity. His research and teaching interests focus on forest ecology and conservation science, responding to the linked crises of biodiversity loss and climate change in collaboration with partners in government agencies, nongovernmental organisations and statutory bodies. A major theme of his current research is to leverage time-series of forest inventory and remote sensing data-sets for quantifying changes in forest cover, dynamics and carbon storage, and to use these results to inform policy and fiscal interventions that would incentivise forest restoration. David has 30 years’ experience of forest research in the UK and overseas and has authored or edited more than 150 papers and two books.
Dr Ioly Kotta-Loizou
Loly is a molecular microbiologist specialising in mycovirology, i.e. the study of viruses that infect fungi, and focuses on microbial life cycles and pathogenicity, together with potential applications in forestry, agriculture and medicine. She is based in the Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, and holds honorary/visiting positions at the Universities of Manchester and Hertfordshire (UK) and the California Institute of Medical Research (USA). Ioly is the Chair for the Chrysoviridae study group in the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, an Editor for the scientific journals Archives of Virology, Viruses, Pathogens, Microorganisms and Frontiers, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a STEM ambassador.
Professor James Pendlebury MICFor
James is the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of Forest Research, an executive agency of the Forestry Commission, and member of the Forestry Commission Executive Board. James is responsible for the strategic vision and scientific direction of Forest Research, the leadership of nearly 300 staff and an annual turnover in excess of £23 Million. He works with colleagues to ensure that Forest Research provides appropriate science, evidence and data to governmental, private sector, environmental and community bodies involved in forest, woodland and urban tree management across the UK. James is Honorary Professor of Forestry, University of the Highlands & Islands and also a member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Committee. James holds a BSc (Honours) degree and a PhD in Forestry from the University of Aberdeen and joined the Forestry Commission in 2002. Prior to this he had a distinguished career in research, management and market development in the timber and forestry sectors in several countries including the UK, United States, South Africa, The Netherlands and New Zealand.
Chair of the Scottish Forestry Trust Bob McIntosh who welcomes the new appointments said “The Trust is very pleased that we have been able to attract such a high calibre of new Trustees. We are moving into an exciting new phase for the Trust, setting new strategic priorities and seeking to increase the funds available to support forestry research and education, which our new Trustees can help deliver.”