DRAX - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Media Manager ( Generation )
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee
Virginia is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. She is a Corporate Fellow Emeritus with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where she worked for 34 years in the Environmental Sciences Division.
Virginia has served on national scientific advisory boards for five agencies of the United States and several committees of the National Academies of Science. She has authored 11 books and more than 250 published articles.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Professor of Zoology, Oxford University and Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords
John is prominent scientist and public administrator who has held many influential positions. Since 2007 he has served as a crossbench life peer in the House of Lords.
John was a member of the independent, statutory body the Committee on Climate Change, and Chairman of its Adaptation Sub-Committee, from 2009 to 2017. He served as Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee from 2010 to 2014 and Chairman of the UK Science and Technology Honours Committee from 2008 to 2014. He was President of the British Science Association in 2012. He took up the chairmanship of the National Network of Science Learning Centres in 2007. From 2000-2005, he was the first Chairman of the British Food Standards Agency. He was the Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council from 1994 to 1999.
From 1988 to 2005, he was a Royal Society Research Professor in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. Prior to this he held academic posts at University of British Columbia and the University College of North Wales and the University of Oxford. He was also Principal of Jesus College, Oxford from 2005 to 2015.
His research career revealed insights into the behaviour, population biology and neuroscience of birds. His seminal contribution proved that bird species that store seeds for the winter have remarkable spatial memory, enabled by an enlarged hippocampus in comparison with other bird species. His publications include more than 130 refereed papers, 5 books, and 130 book chapters, reviews, or popular pieces.
John has an MA and a DPhil from Oxford University.
Job Titles:
- Head of Investor Relations
Job Titles:
- Science Group Leader, Forest Research
Robert Matthews has worked for Forest Research in the UK for over 35 years, where currently he serves as a Science Group Leader. He and his team have a track record of research into the core forestry subjects of mensuration, growth and yield, and have produced the standard guides on forest mensuration procedures and yield prediction that are widely used in the UK forest sector.
Robert's team are also engaged in research into the carbon and greenhouse gas balances of forests and wood product supply chains, and the roles of forests, forest management and wood products in climate change mitigation. They have published numerous studies on the carbon impacts of managing forests to produce biomass and bioenergy, undertaken for stakeholders including the UK Government, European Commission, environmental NGOs and biomass industries. These have included several assessments of options for policy incentive frameworks and forest carbon accounting systems to support forest management for climate change mitigation and the sustainable use of forest biomass.
Robert has contributed to IPCC Good Practice Guidance on preparing greenhouse gas inventories, serving as a Lead Author (wood products) and Review Editor (representation of land). He is also a Lead Author of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group III, Mitigation Pathways Compatible with Long-Term Goals).
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Group Chief Executive Officer
- in 2015 As CFO
Will has a strong track record of building and leading well managed companies and creating value. He has been a key architect of our purpose and strategy, driving the sustainability agenda from the top, including Drax's response to the climate change crisis, and ensuring that we are delivering for our stakeholders.
Will joined Drax in 2015 as CFO and was appointed as CEO in January 2018, after a successful career in technology and finance.
Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner responds to the government's new power BECCS project submission