Every year the faculty hosts its annual Irene Manton lecture, in partnership with the prestigious Linnean Society of London. The lecture celebrates the significant contributions made by women to the Natural Sciences and is named after British botanist Irene Manton who, as well as being the first female president of the Linnean Society, studied for her PhD here at the University.

Now in its ninth year, this year’s talk was titled ‘Is conservation working and if so how do we know’, delivered by Julia Patricia Gordon Jones, Professor in Conservation Science, Bangor University. The event was delivered in person and streamed online via the Faculty’s YouTube channel.

Welcoming attendees was Professor Mahesh Nirmalan, Vice Dean for Social Responsibility and Public Engagement. Commenting on the privilege of establishing such a long-standing partnership with the Linnean Society, Mahesh explained how the annual event strongly aligns with both the University’s and Linnean’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Julia’s talk emphasised just how vital our conservations efforts are in the fight against biodiversity loss. Drawing upon her own research from across the globe, she addressed the methods and difficulties involved in evaluating whether conservation efforts, such as protected area management and biodiversity offsetting, are having a positive impact on protecting our natural habitats, species and mitigating the negative consequences of human activity.

Commenting on the outlook for the future Julia said “Working in conservation can be quite depressing as biodiversity loss is ongoing and in a terrible state, but there are things that give me hope. There is such a growth of interest in biodiversity conservation, there are lots of people out there trying to make it work more effectively and I think that’s my hopeful message”.

The evening was a huge success with a varied audience watching live, including Linnean Society members, University colleagues, sixth form students from schools across the UK and members of the public.

The audience’s passion was evident at the end of Julia’s lecture as she was met with a plethora of questions, continuing the all-important discussion about the climate emergency, and inspiring the next generation of natural scientists.

Watch the recording of the event on The Faculty’s YouTube.

Previous speakers have included:

• Professor Rebecca Willis, with her talk ‘Can Democracy Save us from Climate Change?’ (blog article 2022; watch the recording)
• Dr Kat Coyte, with her talk entitled: ‘Worlds within our Guts’ (blog article 2021; watch the recording)
• Dr Eleanor Drinkwater, PhD student, University of York with her talk ‘Metamorphosis: a 300-year story of intrepid women, rainforests, and butterflies’ (blog article 2020) Watch the event recording here
• Professor Jan Bradley, University of Nottingham with her talk ‘From Man to Mouse’ (blog article 2019)
• Dr Sandra Knapp, President of the Linnean Society of London with her talk entitled ‘Fieldwork in fancy dress? A natural history of women in the field’ (blog article 2018)
• Dr Anna Gilchrist with her talk entitled ‘I’m a butterfly… get me out of here’ (blog article 2017)
• Professor Sheena Cruickshank with her talk entitled ‘On you, inside you: the amazing and horrible world of parasites’ (blog article 2016)
• Professor Dianne Edwards, President of the Linnean Society (2012-2015), with the inaugural talk entitled ‘In the footsteps of Manton: Spores and early land plant evolution (blog article 2014)’

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