I am currently the Chief Executive of the Ernest Cook Trust (ECT), an educational charity owning 22,500 acres across five counties. I am a 'recovering academic', having spent 30 years at the universities of Portsmouth and Reading.

My 1991 Fellowship resulted in my first book, Dealing in Diversity: America's Market for Nature Conservation. I travelled the United States examining nature conservation on private land. At the time much work had been done on evaluating public spaces, such as national parks, but very little on the contribution private landowners could make to nature conservation. I found amazingly innovative approaches, battling a poor conservation ethic. In the UK we had the reverse – a strong conservation ethic but limited legal and management approaches. I hope I managed to bring some of the insight gained to my subsequent policy work on the boards of GB public bodies: the Countryside Commission, Countryside Agency and Forestry Commission.

My Fellowship led to subsequent research on natural resource management and collective action. I remain deeply committed to the power of collective action.