Meet the team

Through our lives and work we have witnessed and experienced some of the ways in which injustice, lack of representation of persistently minoritized groups and uneven power dynamics impacts access to opportunities for people to experience nature. We recognise that our experiences and voices are not fully representative of communities living in Wales and beyond. Our desire is that through collaboration and co-development we can help overcome past injustices and create change for the future of the conservation sector and the lives of people living in Wales. We are dedicated to driving this change in our work supported by a dedicated work focus on equity, diversity and inclusion and a team commitment to increase our understanding of EDI topics. We acknowledge the limitations in our understanding of some of the issues we are working to address as Project SIARC and recognise the importance of working collaboratively for change. Of the ten staff this statement represents, seven of us are women and three of us are men, we are of both Welsh and English ethnicity with individuals with Welsh, Northern Irish, English, Scottish and indigenous American heritage. We have a mean age of 35 (range: 27 – 49). Between us we have grown up in both rural and urban settings in the UK and overseas. Of our team there are members who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community and members who are heterosexual. Of the ten staff represented here, no members of the team have any physical disabilities or impairments.  As a team we are neurodiverse, with both neurodivergent and neurotypical team members.

Two of us are fluent Welsh speakers and eight of us are Welsh learners and within the team we also speak five other languages in addition to Welsh and English. On average we have spent 35% of our collective lives living in Wales, and both our experiences of living and working in Wales have significantly shaped our outlooks and approaches to working in the environment sector. For all of us the sea and marine environment have played significant roles throughout our lives, although we haven’t all grown up by the sea and the development of that connection ranges from starting in childhood to adulthood. This connection strongly influences the choices that we make today, including our passion for safeguarding and celebrating the Welsh marine environment, and working towards equitable access to blue space for all who we work with.

All of the team have had the privilege of international travel across a collective 6 continents of the world, this has included travel for research, conservation science, leisure and life changes. These opportunities have given us the chance to both experience and learn from cultures which are different to our own and develop different skills throughout the years. Our travels have highlighted lower levels of awareness of the wildlife and habitats that can be found in the marine and freshwater environment in the UK. These experiences have reinforced a shared commitment to advocating for improving access and opportunities to experience nature in Wales, without the need to travel overseas. Within the team we collectively hold eight BScs, one BA, nine MScs, one MA and two PhDs in environmental subjects. Growing up, we have been shaped by our families’ backgrounds which include working in the following sectors: agriculture, environment, engineering, seafood, administration & human resources, military defence, tourism, social care, healthcare and wellbeing, mining, biological research, finance, manufacturing, construction, education and media. Collectively we have worked in the hospitality, environmental and wildlife conservation, tourism & leisure, sports, animal care, creative, research, construction, media, healthcare, retail, events, farming, manufacturing, diving and civil–service sectors, and volunteered for organisations focused on the environment and wildlife conservation, animal care, scientific research,  support for vulnerable children & adults, and support for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers

We recognise the privilege that our backgrounds have given us, as outlined here-in, and we know as a team we continue to have much to learn.