The Pathways Europe team is thrilled to announce the following speakers for Pathways Europe 2026.

Sunday, 14 June 2026 | 16:00 – 17:30

Estelle Bailey MBE

Chief Executive
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust

Estelle has been Chief Executive at BBOWT since January 2014. She has worked for The Wildlife Trusts movement for over 25 years. Working closely with the Board of Trustees and Directors, Estelle is responsible for the strategic leadership and direction of the Trust to deliver a wilder Berks, Bucks & Oxon that both restores nature at a significant scale and reconnects people to nature. Estelle believes that a healthy, wildlife-rich natural world is valuable in its own right and is also the foundation of our wellbeing and prosperity; we depend on it and it depends on us.

Estelle is a keen ornithologist, with a lifelong passion for wildlife. She is a keen gardener, has an allotment and enjoys taking on restoration projects of various description!

Monday, 15 June 2026 | 8:30 – 9:15

Silvio Marchini

Science & Strategy Coordinator
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Throughout his career, Silvio has been a mediator helping to build bridges: bridges between ecological and social sciences, researchers and decision-makers, readers and authors, those who want to learn and those who can teach, people and nature, to understand and improve life – wildlife and human life.

Strategic planning, theory of change, systems thinking, decision-making, partnership building, transdisciplinary collaboration, qualitative and quantitative conservation social research, and monitoring, evaluation & learning are examples of his fields of interest.

He is the founder, consultant, and facilitator of ‘Plan4Coex Workshops & Courses’. Science & Strategy Coordinator of Pontes Pantaneiras Coalition (Smithsonian Institution/IPÊ – Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas/Embrapa Pantanal/University College London); a member of IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group; faculty at NEPAM|University of Campinas; member of Instituto Pró-Carnívoros (IPC); and co-founder of Escola da Amazônia (Whitley Award 2007).

Tuesday, 16 June 2026 | 8:30 – 9:15

Miles Richardson

Professor
Human Factors and Nature Connectedness
University of Derby

Miles Richardson is an internationally recognized leader in the study of the human-nature relationship, currently serving as a Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby. As a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Ergonomist, he founded the award-winning Nature Connectedness Research Group (NCRG) and is ranked first globally for research output and quality in his field. His pioneering work, including the “Pathways to Nature Connectedness” framework, focuses on understanding how improving our connection with the natural world can enhance both human wellbeing and biodiversity conservation.

Beyond academia, Richardson’s research has a significant global impact, having been cited in over 140 policy documents by organizations such as the United Nations, WHO, and the UK government. He serves as a Lead Author for the UN’s IPBES Global Transformative Change Assessment and has developed influential tools like the “biodiversity stripes” and the Nature Connection Index. In addition to his scientific publications, he is an accomplished author, with works such as Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature (2023) and The Blackbird’s Song (2024) aimed at fostering a deeper public engagement with the environment.

Wednesday, 17 June 2026 | 9:00 – 10:00

AMy dickman

Professor, Wildlife Conservation, University of Oxford; Director, WildCRU

Amy is the Kaplan Senior Research Fellow in Felid Conservation and is a Professor of Wildlife Conservation at Oxford University, and the Director of WildCRU. Amy has over 25 years of experience working on large carnivores in Africa, specialising in human-carnivore conflict. She has an MSc from Oxford University and a PhD from University College London, and has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters on large carnivore ecology and conservation. She is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, the Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration, the African Lion Working Group, the IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force, and is a National Geographic Explorer. She has received multiple awards for her work, including the Rabinowitz-Kaplan Prize for the Next Generation in Wild Cat Conservation and the St Louis Zoo Conservation Award.

Amy is also the joint founder and joint CEO of Lion Landscapes, a WildCRU affiliated project and NGO, and is the Chair of the Arabian Leopard Fund.