Alison Hester

Professor Alison Hester FRSB is a senior scientist at the James Hutton Institute, UK. She did her Degree at King’s College University of London, PhD at Aberdeen University/CEH and a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at CSIRO Western Australia. Alison has over 30 years research experience (with >150 scientific publications and contract reports) and an international reputation in applied research on natural capital and drivers of land use change. She has extensive practical experience in the logistics of international research, for example, negotiating, establishing and servicing experimental sites in remote areas, community based management of natural resources, stakeholder consultations, multi-national workshops and policy communications. Alison is highly skilled in science communication and networking, national and international project management. She is also an experienced facilitator, supervisor, trainer and external examiner. 

Alison is currently Chair of the Natural Capital Initiative and serves on various Committees and Steering groups, including the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital, the University of Highlands and Islands Science Faculty Board, and ALTER-Net Council: Europe’s Ecosystem Research Network. She has also contributed as an author and advisor for UK initiatives such as the National Ecosystem Assessment, and as an invited contributor and science advisor for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveller articles.