News
Professor Anthony Bradshaw presented with IEEM Medal
29th June 2007
The Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management has presented its medal to Professor Anthony Bradshaw.
In the citation Dr David Parker and Dr Philip Putwain said,
"Tony has been an inspirational force in the field of ecology and environmental management for over 40 years. Following a degree in botany at the University of Cambridge, a PhD in plant evolution at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and work in ecological genetics at the University of Wales, Bangor, it was his move to the city of Liverpool in 1968, as Holbrook Gaskell Professor of Botany in the University of Liverpool, which was the start of his huge influence in this field.
Two parallel interests came together with research into the metal tolerance of plants and research into how to restore the waste products of an industrial Britain. His early focus was on the restoration of china clay waste in SW England, but this also extended to colliery spoil and the wastes of the post-industrial landscape in NW England, including alkali wastes and pulverised fuel ash from coal-fired power stations. Tony chose to live in the city of Liverpool from the outset and this set off his passion for urban ecology and restoration.
Tony’s inspirational force worked in several ways. At Liverpool he attracted and supervised numerous PhD students, post-Docs, and many overseas visitors whose research and time in Liverpool led to successful and influential careers in applied ecology. Tony has always published his work and shared his ideas in an open way. His seminal publication, in 1980, with Mike Chadwick, “The Restoration of Land: the Ecology and Reclamation of Derelict and Degraded Land”, set out, for the first time, a manual for the restoration of despoiled land, based on practical experience through research. This was the product of bringing together ecology with a deep understanding of soil chemistry, plant nutrition and the fundamental principles of plant growth.
Tony’s career has been internationally recognised by the academic community through his many publications in ecological journals. He has given many invited lectures throughout the world, particularly in North America, China and Australia. He was probably the first applied ecologist to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS in 1982) and he was President of the British Ecological Society from 1982 – 1983. He retired in 1988 but even in retirement he has continued to publish, lecture and inspire colleagues. He was the first Chair of the National Wildflower Centre at Knowsley, Liverpool and, in 2000, he was the main force behind a major conference in Liverpool of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER 2000), where 600 people from all over the world met to share their experiences of ecological restoration.
In the late 1970s, Tony recognized a commercial demand building for advice on land restoration and environmental impacts of development, particularly from the mining/quarrying sector and from Local Government. In response to this, he set up the Environmental Rehabilitation Unit of the University of Liverpool, becoming later the Environmental Advisory Unit, staffed by restoration specialists (mostly his own PhD students!) and, over the years, this developed into a successful business, at its peak employing almost 100 staff. Tony saw, developing around him, a new profession: that is, ecologists working to apply their knowledge to solving environmental problems and providing advice to decision-makers. In response to this, Tony was instrumental in the founding of IEEM, in 1991, a professional body to support this fledgling profession, and became its first President from 1991 – 1994 and later its first Fellow. Tony guided the Institute through its difficult early years and has watched it grow, with some little satisfaction, to the present day with its 3,000 members and serving a profession which continues to expand.
Tony’s inspirational force continues to work its magic through the people he has taught and influenced, both through his writing and through personal contact. He is a man who is generous with his ideas and his time and is genuinely interested in the work of other people. He has preferred to work behind the scenes and not to cultivate a celebrity status, which seems to be the normal practice in modern times. However, it is important to judge Tony’s contribution to what really matters, that is the environmental outcomes that have resulted from his work. The world needs these skills more than ever with the challenge ahead to restore damaged ecosystems, now exacerbated by climate change.
For all these reasons, Professor Anthony David Bradshaw FRS FIEEM, is a most worthy recipient of the IEEM Medal."
