Professor Rosie Hails

Background

Rosie Hails is an ecologist, obtaining her first degree in Zoology at Oxford, and a PhD at Imperial College. She is currently Nature and Science Director at the National Trust, where her role is to develop the Trust’s nature strategy, research portfolio and advice on science evidence relevant to Trust decision making. She is also one of three Directors of ‘Renew’ – a Changing the Environment program funded by NERC and led by the University of Exeter & National Trust Partnership.

She is a member of Defra’s Science Advisory Council, Chair of Defra's Biodiversity Expert Committee, a member of Defra’s bovine TB partnership, and several advisory boards. Formerly she was the Science Director for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Science at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (2013 – 2018). She was awarded an MBE for services to Environmental Research in 2000. 

Current activities

Current collaborations are with Professor Jim Harris on the NERC highlight topic 'RestReco'. This project seeks to develop new measures of success in ecological restoration that reflect functioning ecosystems, rather than merely the presence of particular target species.