Mike Rands
Mike Rands | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Russell Wheldon Rands |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Website | www |
Michael Russell Wheldon Rands (born 2 August 1956) is a British conservation biologist. He is currently the Executive Director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative at the University of Cambridge.[1], a Fellow in Management Practice at the Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Fellow Commoner of Magdalene College, Cambridge [2]. He was previously Executive Director of BirdLife International for 14 years.
Education
Educated at Dartington Hall School, the University of East Anglia and the University of Oxford, he gained his doctorate in ecology at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Department of Zoology and Wolfson College, Oxford.
Career
After his DPhil, he carried out post-doctoral research with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, conducting large-scale field experiments that investigated the effects of pesticide spraying regimes on the abundance and diversity of farmland biodiversity. This work ultimately helped lead to the establishment of Conservation headland as a method for increasing wildlife populations in agricultural ecosystems and was enshrined in UK and EU legislation and policy [3].
In 1986 he joined the International Council for Bird Preservation as Programme Director. There he developed and directed international projects to conserve globally threatened species and habitats, and played a leading role in creating BirdLife International. He became Director of Strategic Planning and Policy of BirdLife International in 1994 before becoming its Chief Executive from 1996 to 2009. Under his leadership, BirdLife International became a global partnership of science-based biodiversity conservation NGOs in more than 110 countries working together to conserve species, protect sites and restore ecosystems
Since 2009 he has worked as the founding Director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI). He helped foster and lead a partnership between the University of Cambridge and a cluster of internationally focused conservation organisations. He helped CCI with their aim to transform the global understanding and conservation of biodiversity through multidisciplinary programmes integrating research, teaching, policy and practice. He led the creation of the Cambridge Conservation Campus, endorsed by Sir David Attenborough, with the flagship David Attenborough Building, which opened in 2013 [4]. In 2018, he launched the Endangered Landscapes Programme, a collaboration with Arcadia to restore European landscapes for life[5][6].
References
- ^ "Cambridge Conservation Initiative". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Mike Rands at Magdalene College, Cambridge". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "English Nature report on wildlife gain from agri-environment schemes 2001". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Sir David Attenborough opens the Cambridge Conservation Campus in April 2013". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Endangered Landscapes Programme". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ "Mike Rands introduces the launch of the Endangered Landscapes Programme in October 2018". Retrieved 24 April 2019.