Speaker bio page for Richard Scott

Bio

Richard Scott is Director of the National Wildflower Centre at the Eden Project, and delivers creative conservation project work nationally, he is also Chair of the UK Urban Ecology Forum,

Richard is specialist in creative conservation/ ecological project work, focused around wildflower species; particularly linking people and communities in this process. Richard has in the past worked as a local authority ecologist, and for the very first, then experimental, Groundwork Trust. Where he researched techniques to best establish wildflowers in rich urban soil, documented in Flowers in the Grass published by English Nature in 1992.

Richard worked for the environmental charity Landlife for 26 years developing creative conservation philosophy, and delivery in both urban and rural landscapes, giving advice across the UK and abroad. He has and has delivered wildflower landscapes with partners including local authorities, Community Forests, The Woodland Trust, Forest Enterprise, The National Forest and Wildlife Trusts, and Eden Project, as well as managing Landlife's wildflower seed production, this experience was encapsulated in the Award-winning publication Wildflowers Work (1993, 1997 and 2004) A practically based guide with detailed specifications for implementing wildflower landscapes. Richard has Developed successful new creative conservation techniques including soil inversion which has delivered, startling new habitats across the UK for a selection for grassland, woodland, heathland and dune habitats, which are now extraordinary examples of what can be achieved with the right starting point.

Richard was a part of the small team that won Millennium funding for the National Wildflower Centre which opened to the public in Knowsley in September 2000, and which moved to the Eden Project in 2017. In 2014 Richard proposed and won funding from Kew Gardens and the National Lottery (beating 4 other UK Cities by public vote) to create “England's Wildflower Flagship “, for the Liverpool and Manchester Tale of Two Cities Project, which demonstrated a new kind of cultural ecology project. The National Centre Wildflower Centre demonstrates creative conservation techniques with wildflowers, and encourage the bold creation of wildflower landscapes in both urban and rural environments, to reverse biodiversity decline.

Richard was integral to bringing 2 International Society for Ecological Restoration Conferences to the UK in 2000 and 2015 and regularly presents the creative work nationally and internationally. He was chosen as one of 20 individuals for the San Miguel Rich List in 2018, highlighting those who pursue alternative forms of wealth and was the Ecologist magazine’s Campaign Hero in 2013.