Northern Nature, Culture & Place Forum

Tony Juniper is Chair of Natural England. Before taking up this role in April 2019 he was Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK, a Fellow with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and President of the Wildlife Trusts. Until January 2018 he was an independent sustainability and environment advisor, including as Special Advisor with The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit.

He speaks and writes widely on conservation and sustainability themes. He’s the author of many books, including the multi-award winning bestseller ‘What has nature ever done for us?’ published in 2013. The Ladybird guide to climate change, co-authored with HRH The Prince of Wales and Emily Shuckburgh, was published in January 2017. His latest book, ‘Rainforest‘, was published in April 2018.

Tony began his career as an ornithologist, working with Birdlife International. From 1990 he worked at Friends of the Earth, initially leading the campaign for tropical rainforests, and from 2003 to 2008 was the organisation’s Executive Director. From 2000 to 2008 he was Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth International.

He was the first recipient of the Charles and Miriam Rothschild medal (2009) and was awarded honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the Universities of Bristol and Plymouth (2013). In 2017 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Throughout her 25-year career in arts and heritage, Helen has championed and advocated access to heritage, arts and culture for all.

An inclusive and dynamic leader with a people-centred approach she is passionate about the role that heritage plays in helping us make sense of the world around us.

Prior to joining the Heritage Fund in 2023, she was Deputy Director and part of the Executive Team at Yorkshire Sculpture Park where she was responsible for business planning and overseeing estates, finance, development, marketing, trading, visitor experience, administration and HR.

Helen was also CEO of Sheffield Industrial Museums, where she worked with the local community and developers to win the Academy of Urbanism Best British Neighbourhood Award for a heritage-led regeneration approach.

Helen has a MA in Cultural Policy and Management and a BA in History of Art and Design. She has also worked at Arts Council England and had several culture focused roles in local government where she was responsible for audience development, wellbeing and working with a range of diverse communities.

Helen also has extensive experience of trustee positions, most recently Chair of Greentop Circus in Sheffield, and up until joining the Heritage Fund was a Private Sector Board member of West Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership. She worked with Mayor Tracy Brabin as Vice Chair to establish an Arts, Heritage and Sport Committee to demonstrate the importance of culture in West Yorkshire.

Duncan Wilson joined Historic England as the organisation’s first Chief Executive on 1 April 2015.

Historic England is a public body which improves people’s lives by protecting and championing the historic environment.

Previously, Duncan was Chief Executive of the Alexandra Park and Palace Trust, developing a major regeneration and conservation scheme to restore the Victorian theatre and television studios. He has also been Chief Executive at the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College, maintaining one of Europe’s finest groups of baroque buildings, and the Somerset House Trust, opening the site to the public.

Duncan’s first job as a chartered accountant in 1987 was as Senior Management Accountant

at English Heritage. Before accountancy he worked as a professional archaeologist in Oxford and Herefordshire, following post graduate research in European Archaeology.

He is a Trustee of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and the Greenwich Foundation.

He was awarded the CBE for services to heritage in 2023