Iain Gordon completed his PhD in Zoology at Cambridge University and followed this with postdoctoral research on the management of wetlands for biodiversity conservation in the Camargue, France. During the next 15 years of his career at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Scotland he built a research team to specialise in understanding and mitigating rural land management impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. He joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia in 2003 to take charge of CSIRO's Townsville Laboratory from where he also led CSIRO's Building Resilient Biodiversity Assets Theme. Iain returned to Scotland in 2010 as the first Chief Executive and Director of the James Hutton Institute. He is now Deputy Vice Chancellor, Tropical Environments & Societies at James Cook University in Australia.
Throughout his career, which spans research, research management and provision of policy advice, Iain has played an active role in promoting the value of biodiversity and its importance in the provision of ecosystem services and human wellbeing. Over the past 25 years he has gained an international reputation for scientific leadership and research excellence in interdisciplinary approaches, particularly in the context of managing land use to benefit biodiversity and engaging human communities in the management of natural resources including managing major research portfolios on land management to protect the Great Barrier Reef and conserving Australia's biodiversity.
