Officers of the BLS
Dr. Barbara Hilton - President |
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Dr. Janet Simkin - Vice-President |
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Dr. Stephen Ward - Past President |
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Chris Ellis - Secretary |
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Chris Ellis studied Ecology at Leeds before completing a PhD in palaeoecology at Manchester. He spent a further two years working on peat-forming systems in High Arctic Canada, and was introduced to lichen research on returning to the UK when he spent 18 months in Peter Crittenden's lab at Nottingham. Chris has been employed at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh since 2003, where he now heads the Cryptogam Section. His personal research interests are in lichen biogeography, including the lichen response to environmental change, and community ecology of epiphytes. He leads an active research team in climate change science, cryptogamic biodiversity and lichen ecology. |
Paul Cannon - Bulletin Editor |
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Barbara Hilton's interest in lichens developed because of the great scope they provide for projects among student teachers. Her enthusiasm grew through membership of the BLS and studying coastal lichens. She helped to develop the OPAL air quality survey and maintains interest in churchyard lichens. Expeditions, as to Yunnan (China) and Newfoundland, broadened her knowledge of lichens and their ecology. By training a chemist and biochemist, Barbara drew on her educational background in chairing the Education and Promotions Committee for 10 years. She enjoys photography, is a Fellow of the RSA and received the Ursula Duncan Award in 2008.
Janet Simkin studied botany at Cambridge but her interest in lichens dates back even further, to a school project on churchyard lichens. She was distracted for a while by a career in software development before returning to academic life to research the ecology of the lichen-rich grasslands contaminated by lead mining. Now a freelance ecologist with a special interest in species-rich grasslands and plant communities, her work involves a fascinating but often confusing mix of research, surveys and teaching. In the BLS she has been involved in the computerisation of lichen records, setting up the database and making our records accessible on the internet.
Stephen Ward graduated from the Bangor University in botany. His doctorate on heathland ecology was gained at Aberdeen. He devoted his career to nature conservation, being proud to have worked in the Nature Conservancy, ITE and Scottish Natural Heritage. Achievements [always as part of a team] included a vegetation map of Dartmoor, a definitive study of limestone pavements, work on Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula to conserve SSSIs, notifying SSSIs in NE England, and latterly going back to his rhizines with a remit to represent the best interests of lower plants and fungi in Scotland – largely as an MP might do – knowing few of them personally, but fighting for their welfare.
Paul Cannon has worked in fungal systematics for over half his life, moving over to the Dark Side after completing a PhD on legume classification. His early education at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute (subsequently IMI) included an appreciation that lichens are fungi too, and should be integrated into the overall fungal taxonomic scheme. Most of his professional life has involved studying leaf parasites, but he turned up at the BLS 50
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Anniversary Meeting at Nettlecombe in 2008 and unwisely volunteered to become Editor of the Bulletin. The lichen “bug” rapidly took hold, and his current interests revolve around fieldwork, lichen imaging and web development. He now works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.