Nathalie Seddon

Nathalie Seddon is Professor of Biodiversity and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Departments of Biology and Geography (Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment) at the University of Oxford. She is also Director of the Agile Initiative, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College.

In 2021, she co-founded the Oxford University Social Venture, Nature-based Insights Ltd, of which she is non-executive Director.

Nathalie trained as an evolutionary ecologist at Cambridge University and has over 25 years of research experience in a range of ecosystems across the globe. As a University Research Fellow of the Royal Society, she developed broad research interests in understanding the origins and maintenance of biodiversity and its relationship with global change. Her work now focuses on the role of nature-based solutions in social and ecological flourishing, and how to increase the influence of robust biodiversity science as well as traditional knowledge on the design and implementation of climate and development policy.

Nathalie advises governments, UN agencies, and the private sector on nature-based solutions to ensure their implementation supports biodiversity and enhances wellbeing. She is a member of the Adaptation Committee of the UK Climate Change Committee, leading on nature; sits on the Science & Knowledge Committee of the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions; and is a Trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance.

In 2022-2023, Nathalie was Academic co-Lead for the UK’s first People’s Assembly for Nature.