We are pleased to announce that Dr. Mike Morecroft has agreed to become the new President of JRI, in succession to the late Sir John Houghton. Mike is an ecologist and is currently Natural England’s Principal Specialist on climate change. This centres on developing the science of climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation and applying it to conservation policy and practice. He is also an honorary research associate at Oxford University and a Coordinating Lead Author on ecosystems for the IPCC 6th Assessment Report Working Group II (impacts and adaptation).
Mike took his degree in biology at the University of Southampton, and he gained his doctorate from the University of Cambridge, looking at the way plants change with altitude on mountains and interactions between climate and nutrient supply. He then had a postdoctoral contract at the University of Manchester before joining the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in 1992. This became the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and Mike worked there until 2009 when he joined Natural England. During his time at CEH Mike worked on long-term monitoring, climate change adaptation, and forest carbon dynamics, including several long-term studies at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire.
Mike has been involved in JRI since its earliest days and was a Board member at the time of the seminal 2002 Oxford climate change conference. He has spoken at both JRI and CRES events on a number of occasions. Mike is married to Charlie, they have two teenage sons and live in Hungerford, West Berkshire. He is a Licensed Lay Minister (Reader) in his local church.
Mike Morecroft will take up the presidency after Easter. We are looking forward to working with him in the next few years.