President
Sir John Houghton CBE FRS is President of the John Ray Initiative. He was chairman of Scientific Assessment for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Director General of the UK Meteorological Office, and Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Oxford. More »
Vice-Presidents
R J (Sam) Berry FRSE is Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London. He is a former President of Christians in Science, the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society, the European Ecological Federation, and the Mammal Society.More »
Colin Russell FRSC is Professor Emeritus in History of Science and Technology at the Open University. He was UCCF vice-president. He is Affiliated Research Scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. More »
Dr John Sale is a consultant on biodiversity conservation in Africa and Asia, both as an academic and a UN Chief Technical Adviser to national governments on post-graduate training and research on wildlife. He is the author of numerous papers on mammal biology and technical aspects of the conservation of tropical species and their habitats, ranging from elephants and rhinos to orang-utans. One of the founders of JRI and presently its International Secretary.
Directors
Revd Dr John Weaver (Chairman) is the Principal of South Wales Baptist College. Previously he was Director of Pastoral Training at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. He was pastor of Highfield Baptist Church, Northamptonshire. More »
Claire Ashton (Treasurer, Company Secretary) has a background in Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology. She has previously worked in the UK water industry carrying out research on clean water pipelines. She is currently taking a career break whilst bringing up her children.
Shan Dobinson (Executive Secretary) runs Trinity Training which provides training and coaching in management, sales, communication, safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. She is on the leadership team of her church, and is in the process of becoming an assessor for Ecocongregation. She also chairs the Board of Luther King House Educational Trust in Manchester.
Paul Houghton was a Further Education lecturer, teaching Physics and Mathematics. He was the Treasurer of JRI from 2000 until 2011.
Revd. Margot Hodson is the Vicar of Haddenham, and was previously Chaplain of Jesus College, Oxford. Margot teaches environmental ethics at Oxford Brookes University. More »
Dr Hilary Marlow works for the Cambridge Interfaith Project. She is a Teaching Associate in Old Testament in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, and an Associate of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. She writes and speaks on Christian theology and the environment in a wide range of contexts, and has been actively involved for many years in the Christian conservation charity A Rocha.
Prof Gordon McConville is Professor of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire. After studying Modern Languages at Cambridge and Theology at Edinburgh, he did his PhD at Belfast on Cultic Laws in Deuteronomy. He taught Old Testament at Trinity College Bristol, and at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford until 1995. He is the author or co-author of fourteen books and many articles, with special interests in Deuteronomy, the prophets, and Old Testament theology and interpretation. He is currently working on Old Testament spirituality, and is co-editor of the Two Horizons Commentary (Old Testament) with Craig Bartholomew. Publications list.
Prof. Robert White FRS is Professor of Geophysics at Cambridge University. He researches the earth’s crust, especially rifts and volcanoes, using geophysical tools. Bob is a church warden and a home group leader. More »
Lady Elizabeth Catherwood
Professor Graham Ashworth
Graham Ashworth is Research Professor of Urban Environmental Studies at Salford University, President of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in Europe. He is a past President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. Formerly he was Chairman of Going for Green and ENCAMS (Environmental Campaigns).
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres
Richard Chartres is the Bishop of London. Formerly he was Bishop of Stepney (1992-1995), a London vicar (1984-1992), and Chaplain to Robert Runcie while Bishop of St Albans and then at Canterbury. His publications include Religion, Science and the Environment. An article ‘Ecological Friars’ (Plant-Talk) and his talk dedicating the Ecocongregations project, are online. For further information see the London Anglican website.
Lord John Gummer
Baron Deben, was formerly Secretary of State for Environment (1993-97), and MP for Suffolk Coastal. He was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1989-93), Minister for London, Employment Minister and Paymaster General. He was first elected an MP in 1970. He is active in the promotion of the European cause, and well known for his detailed presentation of European business issues. While at MAFF he chaired the European Council of Agriculture Ministers during the negotiations for GATT, and represented EU Ministers in Chicago during the final stages of the trade negotiations. He has earned worldwide respect both in the business community and among environmentalists – Friends of the Earth called him “the best Environment Secretary we have ever had”. Since leaving office he has been appointed Chairman of the International Commission on Sustainable Consumption and Chairman of the Marine Stewardship Council. He is Chairman of THE SANCROFT GROUP, which is active in environmental, ethical and health and safety consultancy. John Gummer was a keynote speaker at Forum 2002, an Anglo-American climate change conference. Further information.
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS
Ghillean Prance is Visiting Professor at Reading University, and Scientific Director of the Eden Project, Cornwall. He was formerly Director of Kew Botanic Gardens. Prance spent many years in Amazonian Brazil doing botanical exploration and taxonomy, and has lived with 16 indian tribes. He has written over 300 papers on plant systematics, plant ecology, ethnobotany and conservation – and 13 books including A Passion for Plants: From the Rainforest of Brazil to Kew Gardens (Lion, 1995) and The Earth Under Threat – A Christian Perspective (Wild Goose, 1996).
Sir Meuric Rees CBE
Meuric Rees is a farmer, Christian, and was formerly Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd.
Emeritus Professor Calvin DeWitt
Cal DeWitt was formerly Director of Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, Wisconsin, USA – preparing hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students for environmental careers integrated with biblical worldviews. His publications include “Creation’s environmental challenge to evangelical Christianity” in The Care of Creation (IVP, 2000). Also see further information and an interview in Grist magazine.
Staff
Dr Martin Hodson (Operations Manager) is Principal Tutor of the Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies (CRES), and Visiting Researcher in Environmental Biology at Oxford Brookes University. His research interests include plant mineral relations, archaeology and palaeoecology. More »
Lynda McKeown (Administrator) was a primary schoolteacher and music teacher. She is a mother of two young children.
Dr John McKeown (Technical Support) has written and taught undergraduate modules on Ecotheology, Church History, and Systematic Theology for the University of Gloucestershire. He is also an Associate Lecturer (in History and Technology) for the Open University. From 1994 to 1999 he was Research Associate at Leicester University in the Geography dept. His PhD was on U.S. pronatalist reception of the Old Testament.