Simon DOWELL

After a Doctorate at the University of Oxford on Galliforme reintroduction Simon held academic posts at two UK Universities and joined their faculty leadership teams. During this time he served on the Board of Chester Zoo as a trustee and established one of the first UK degree programmes in Wildlife Conservation.  In 2016 he joined Chester Zoo as Conservation Science Director and led the development and implementation of Chester Zoo’s 10 year Conservation Masterplan, grew their education, science and conservation outreach capacity, and recently established the Zoo's International Centre for Zoo Science with business partnership funding. Simon plays an active part in the UK and international conservation sectors, lobbying UK parliamentarians on conservation issues and participating in Biodiversity CoP 15. He is a key author of the Zoo Spheres model which has achieved a paradigm shift in the understanding of the wider role that zoos and aquariums play in conservation. 

Simon has twice chaired Species Specialist Groups for Galliformes within the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and was instrumental in the publication of the first Conservation Action Plans for these birds. He has been actively involved in a number of successful conservation programmes to reverse the decline of Galliformes in China and South-east Asia, notably the Sichuan Partridge and the Vietnam Pheasant. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a visiting professor at the University of Chester. Simon is now Chester Zoo's Senior Advisor on Conservation Strategy.