ABOUT EAST SUFFOLK TRUST

Lewis is the founding chief executive of East Suffolk Trust.

Prior to joining East Suffolk Trust, Lewis held senior leadership positions in academia, the NHS, and local government. He is an ecologist by background, with a PhD from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Following research positions in Groningen and Oxford, he returned to UEA as a lecturer, where he led research and teaching programmes in ecology and evolutionary biology. He lives in East Suffolk.

 Clare is Chair of East Suffolk Trust, and the Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society. She lives in Suffolk.

She was previously Executive Director of Engagement at the Natural History Museum, and was at the Wellcome Trust for 17 years as Director of Strategy and Director of Culture and Society. 

Clare is a Council member for the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council and is Chair of the First Light Festival in Suffolk. In 2017, Clare received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York and was awarded the CBE for services to public engagement with science. 

James is the Treasurer of East Suffolk Trust. He cares deeply about nature and is a strategist, innovator and  entrepreneur. He is a former Chair at Suffolk Wildlife Trust and a  former Trustee for RSPB. He was awarded an MBE for voluntary services to  the environment. In business he co-founded the disruptive unicorn Zopa  and is currently a Director at Future Agenda, a foresight and strategy  advisory.

Zorzeta Bakaki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government  at the University of Essex. Previously, she worked as a Senior  Researcher at the ETH Zürich's Center for Comparative and International  Studies. Her research and teaching interests are International  Relations, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of conflict  management and resolution, international cooperation, and environmental  politics. Some of her ongoing research is on emotional landscapes and  environmental policy, climate misinformation, or environmental  provisions in peace agreements.

 Heather has extensive experience of leading and delivering environmental and heritage schemes at regional, county and local level, working with wildlife and community partners to help protect and enhance our natural environment. For over ten years she has been a Committee Member of the Heritage Fund’s Midlands and East Committee, assessing and determining grant applications from charities, trusts, local authorities and community groups covering (among other areas) historic landscapes, nature, rural projects, historic environment, community archaeology, maritime and industrial history.

Heather was awarded an MBE in 2024 for services to heritage in the Midlands and East Anglia and lives in Suffolk. 

Lynn is a Professor of Ecology in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. She leads the Agroecology Group, researching  how to protect and manage biodiversity in agricultural landscapes,  alongside sustainable, high-yielding food production. This includes current projects on landscape-scale restoration, global insect decline and biodiversity impacts of current transitions in farming systems. She is a Board Member of the UK Government nature conservation agency, Natural England, and co-Chairs the Natural England Science Advisory Committee.  She was a Co-ordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Thematic assessment of pollinators, pollination and food production from 2014-2016, and has worked on the Conservation Evidence project at the University of Cambridge since 2009.

Steve has a doctorate in Environmental Chemistry (Kings College/Imperial  College London) in which he studied the effects of acid rain on soils, micronutrients and plant-soil relationships. The first half of his career was spent in environmental consultancy, leading high-performing  teams in due-diligence, planning, permitting and environmental  assessment across a wide range of sectors in the UK and overseas.  

Since joining EDF’s new nuclear  business in 2010, he has been at the centre of design development and  stakeholder engagement at Hinkley Point C , Bradwell B and Sizewell C to  maximise sustainability. He has worked on Sizewell since 2012. An  environmental project, he has championed the need for Sizewell C to be  an "exemplar NSIP" - delivering globally in our fight against climate  change whilst also delivering for nature locally in Suffolk.

Julian started his career as a woodland ecology surveyor, going on to  work for The Woodland Trust as woodland officer, and ultimately their  regional manager for Southern England. He became head of conservation  for Suffolk Wildlife Trust in 1995 and its chief executive in 1999 - a  role he held for 21 years. During his time as CEO Julian led a shift to  invest in land acquisition by rewilding former arable land to create  much larger nature reserves. In addition the Trust’s learning activities  and farmland wildlife advice was expanded. Julian manages an ancient  woodland and is tree warden for his parish in mid-Suffolk. When not in  Suffolk he spends much of his time in nature in Estonia where he has  been restoring an old farmhouse.