Paula Wakelin

Professionally, Paula has worked in ecological consulting for over eighteen years and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM). Paula is a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) specialist and an active member of the AtkinsRéalis Ecology Policy Network, HRA Network and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Network. She likes to employ a bit of strategic thinking and finds the current emerging changes to legislation and policy fascinating, especially as they will affect environmental assessment as we know it. In terms of education, Paula has a Master's in Restoration Ecology, which felt very forward-thinking in 2001. Since then, she has been an advocate for habitat restoration and habitat creation/translocation, and trying to understand where rewilding could fit in from a consultancy perspective. There is scope for improving habitat quality, connectivity, and ultimately resilience through BNG, Local Nature Recovery Strategies and other national schemes, which makes this an exciting time to be working in this sector. Paula's interest in nature and wildlife came from her father, and despite growing up in suburban Liverpool, she was able to take respite from exam revision by walking in Childwall Woods. At the time 'forest bathing' hadn't been heard of, certainly not in Merseyside, but that was essentially what it was and it provided much-needed stress relief. On family holidays too, her father would point out the wildlife they didn't see at home; bats and buzzards sticking firmly in her mind. That's where it started for her, and it has influenced her choices with respect to her education and career. Now Paula is the parent and hopes that she is nurturing the same love of the natural world in both of her daughters. Neither of them run away from wildlife, and both currently have plans to live or work with animals.