Governance
The Trust is registered as a Scottish charity (SC023988) and as such is regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
The Trust is registered as a Scottish charity (SC023988) and as such is regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
A chartered Civil Engineer by profession, Joe graduated from Dundee University in 1980 and worked in the water industry in Scotland for 25 years, latterly with Scottish Water as General Manager for North West Scotland. In 2005 Joe joined Scottish Natural as Director Corporate Services, retiring in 2017, having served as interim Chief Executive in both Bòrd na Gàidhlig and SNH.
Joe was, as Director Corporate Services, SNH’s Chief Finance Officer and Senior Information Risk Owner.
Joe is a Fellow of Scottish Council of Development and Industry and holds Institute of Directors Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction. Joe chaired the Highland Structure Partnership in its final year and was a member of the UHI Court in the lead up to gaining full university status.
Since retiring Joe has become one of two community representatives on the Tornagrain Conservation Trust, integral to the governance structure of Scotland’s newest new town, chaired by the Earl of Moray.
Brian Clark is a specialist in environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment, urban and rural planning and environmental management. His initial research at Glasgow University was on regional development policy and mobility of industry in the UK and urban deprivation followed by research at Durham University on urban planning in Iran, Iraq and the Gulf States. Brian moved to Aberdeen University in 1971 to direct the MSc in Rural and Regional Resources Planning and he established the Centre for Environmental Management and Planning (CEMP), which won national and international awards for consultancy, research and training in EIA, SEA, Sustainability and Environmental Management.
Brian has acted as a consultant to, and served on the Boards, of numerous national and international organisations and in 1987 was made a founder member of UNEP's Global 500 Award for his services towards environmental management. Brian was awarded an MBE in 2006. Latterly, he was a Board Member of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and a Board member and Chair of the Advisory Committee on Science of the James Hutton Institute from its establishment in 2011 until 2017.
Isobel works as a Wildlife Consultant specialising in bats. She has had a varied career and gained a BSc. Hons. Biology from Aberdeen University as a mature student. Isobel has an interest in the environment and has worked in the environmental sector for many years. She is a Member of the North Sea Commission Energy and Climate Change Group, exchanging information and collaborative projects between North Sea coastal countries. She has been a local Councillor, on Aberdeenshire Council, for Ellon and District since and is Vice Chair of the Sustainability Committee which is guiding the Council towards carbon neutrality and promoting a circular economy.
She has a wealth of experience of community development, working in and with communities on the ground. Isobel is an experienced Trustee serving on several Charitable Trusts both as a local councillor and in a personal capacity
Priscilla graduated in Anthropology and Sociology from Durham University and as a mature student returned to university to undertake a Diploma in Land Economy at Aberdeen. She subsequently qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and between her two degrees married the owner of Drummuir Estate in Moray where her academic studies informed her life and work. The Estate is an integrated land holding that includes a home farm, tenanted farms, a Victorian Gothic Castle, let residential properties, forestry, moorland and a windfarm; the focus of her work was on policy development and external relations.
In around 2000, in the lead up to Land Reform, Priscilla was instrumental in the formation of ‘Drummuir 21’ an environmental charity that encourages involvement of all ages and abilities to work on sustainable development in the area and has particularly encouraged access for all.
Priscila has served on several forestry and land related groups and from 2010 to 2014 chaired the Moray LEADER Local Action Group Panel. She is currently Chair of both the Andrew Raven Trust, a charity based at Ardtornish on Morvern and of Drummuir 21.
Mike retired from a 45 year career in accountancy and auditing in October 2023. After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1978, he had trained as a chartered accountant ibn the Edinburgh office of Scott Oswald, the largest independent Scottish firm at that time, and gained his formal qualification in 1981, before leaving a year later to gain overseas work experience. After just over 3 years working in Johannesburg with KMG (later KPMG) Mike switched to their Edinburgh office, before returning to Scott Oswald in 1988 for 25 years, during which time they became RSM Tenon. In January 2014 Mike moved along with many of his colleagues to Mazars LLP, where he stayed until his retirement.
In the last 20 years or so of his career, Mike handled over 30 charities of varying size and complexity, in addition to corporate clients and pension scheme clients, with significant investment portfolios. Accordingly Mike is familiar with many of the accounting and governance issues facing charities today, having also attended many charity related seminars and training courses. Mike is also a trustee of 2 other organisations, as well as being (honorary) treasurer of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Mike’s interests include travel, politics and most sports.
Emma is a Sustainable Governance specialist, Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. Her experience spans a broad range of disciplines including policy and process development, integration of environmental considerations into business governance structures, environmental risk management, environmental impact assessment, investment due diligence, carbon footprinting and stakeholder training. She specialises in communicating science, environment, and sustainability with an extensive and varied range of stakeholders.
Emma is the founder of Green Arch Consulting, a strategic sustainability advisory business working with clients across a broad range of sectors to deliver sustainable governance changes in their organisations. Her client list spans food manufacturing, financial services, events, local authority, energy generation, legal and travel and transport, among others.
Emma holds degrees in Ecology from the University of Edinburgh and Environmental Law from the University of Nottingham. Her personal areas of interest include natural capital, ecosystem services and biophilic design.
Ashish is a Lecturer at University of Aberdeen since 2019. His research and teaching focuses on understanding microbial processes in soil that are involved in carbon cycling and the underlying mechanisms with a genes-to-ecosystem approach. Using a multi-scale integrated ecology approach, he aims to leverage fundamental science to address key societal challenges of sustainable land use, climate change resilience and peatland restoration. He is also keen on exploring newer ways of doing research, improving research culture, and promoting diversity and inclusivity in academia and beyond.
Ashish grew up in Goa, India where he concluded his undergraduate education in Microbiology. He did his PhD research at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena-Germany, has worked as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Wallingford-UK, and as a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California Irvine-USA. He lives in Aberdeen but greatly admires the nature around.
A graduate of Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities, Gordon has spent most of his working life in Economic Development and from 1995 until he retired in 2016 was a Director of Aberdeen City Council. He was then approached by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada to serve as their Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, which he did from 2016 until 2019. Over his career he has held various positions on Boards including Chair of the North of Scotland Hub Partnership Board, Director of Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, and Chair of the Scottish Local Authority Economic Development Officers Group. He is currently the Chair and Director of Aberdeen International Associates Ltd (a small international energy consultancy), Chair of QED Naval (a tidal stream developer based in Edinburgh), Chair of the North East Scotland Hydrogen Ambition Transport Group, a Director of AREG, and a Visiting Professor of Robert Gordon University.
Gordon now lives in Gairloch in the North West of Scotland and serves as a Trustee on the Board of Gairloch Museum.
Sheila is a solicitor, dealing for the last 30 years, mostly in commercial and corporate work. She is part retired and is now a consultant with Grant Smith Law Practice, where she was a partner and director for more than 20 years.
She has been involved in NGOs connected with rural affairs for many years, having sat on the North and West Grampian LEADER Board, the local enterprise trust board, Rural Forums’s Council- a long time ago- and the Council and Scottish Advisory Committee of the RSPB.
A keen birder, she reads, walks, takes photographs and is currently the Convenor of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and one of its Federal Vice Presidents.
Mark Shucksmith OBE is Professor of Planning at Newcastle University and Visiting Professor at Ruralis, Trondheim. Mark’s main areas of research include social exclusion in rural areas, rural housing and rural development. Recent books include: Rural Poverty Today: Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain (2023); Hope under Neoliberal Austerity: responses from civil society and civic universities (2021); Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies (2016); InterAction (2016); Rural Policies and Rural Transformations in the UK and US (2012); and Future Directions in Rural Development (2012). He has published over 120 papers in learned journals and advised governments in several countries.
Mark is a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust, and of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). He was a Board Member of the Commission for Rural Communities and Countryside Agency from 2005-13, a member of the Government’s Affordable Rural Housing Commission (2005-06), and Chair of the Scottish Government’s Committee of Inquiry into Crofting (2007-08). He was Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Rural Economy 2018/19 and to its Select Committee on the NERC Act 2017/18. Mark was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.
Alan is Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography, University of Dundee and former Research Director of Dundee’s UNESCO Centre for Research on Water, Law Policy and Science and Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the British Society for Geomorphology, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and a former Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Having graduated from Cambridge University with an MA and PhD and a MS from Pennsylvania State, he took up his first academic post at the University of St Andrews, moving to a Chair at Dundee University in 1994. Throughout his career he has explored the behaviour of rivers both in terms of how they shape the physical landscape and how they impact on human society. Whilst most this research has been focused on Scotland, this has also been undertaken in the western USA, Spain, Israel and Poland. Alan’s current research focuses on climate change, flooding and societal responses to increased flood risk. He has published over 120 refereed articles and book chapters.
Since 2004 Alan has advised the Scottish Government on drafting and subsequently implementing the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. He was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Expert Group which reported on ‘Water Disasters’ to the 5th World Water Forum in Ankara in 2009. Between 2009 and 2016 he was a member of the Board of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and then the James Hutton Institute. A former member of Scottish Natural Heritage’s Science Advisory Committee, from 2017-19 Alan chaired a Scottish Government inquiry into Grouse Moor Management.
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