Jem studied Natural Environmental Science at the University of Sheffield.  He has worked for a range of statutory and NGO conservation bodies in Scotland, and joined the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland team in 1997.  During a 14-year position as Senior Site Manager at the RSPB’s Abernethy Nature Reserve (13,700ha), Jem was one of the founding partners of Cairngorms Connect (CC) – the UK’s biggest habitat restoration partnership, covering 60,000ha in the Scottish Highlands.  In 2017/2018, Jem managed CC’s application to the Endangered Landscapes Programme, which gave rise to a $5mUSD award from a private trust called ‘Arcadia’.  In 2019, Jem started as Programme Manager for Cairngorms Connect.  His passion is in the management of habitats at a landscape-scale, and finding ways to make this more meaningful to people, particularly locally.  Jem has visited New Zealand three times.