Dr Richard Bradbury

Head of Environmental Research, Conservation Science

Background

I lead a small but dynamic team working on a diverse range of topics, largely at the interface between biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Our work includes:

  • The assessment of climate change impacts on priority species and design of adaptation solutions to these impacts
  • Use of habitat network models to inform landscape scale conservation
  • The effect of different land use and management decisions on carbon stocks, greenhouse gas flows and other ecosystem services
  • Development of tools for ecosystem service appraisal
  • The impacts of energy generation technologies on birds
  • Providing the scientific support across our portfolio of site conservation concerns
  • Understanding the relationships between exposure and connection to nature and human well-being
  • How to influence pro-environmental behaviour change

We work in close collaboration with other teams in the Centre for Conservation Science, colleagues across RSPB and Birdlife International, and a wide range of other academic, statutory agency, government and NGO partners.

External Activities

  • 2015 to present: Honorary Research Fellow at Cambridge University
  • 2012 to present: Living With Environmental Change Terrestrial Climate Impacts Report Card: Working Group

Partners and Collaboration

  • Dr James Pearce-Higgins, British Trust for Ornithology
  • Prof Chris Thomas, University of York
  • Dr Tom Oliver, University of Reading
  • Dr Andrew Balmford, Cambridge University

Contact

Richard Bradbury

Dr Richard Bradbury

Head of Environmental Research, Conservation Science

RSPB Centre of Conservation Science, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3QZ

richard.bradbury@rspb.org.uk

@Rich_B_Bradbury

Google Scholar

Specialisms

Climate change Ecosystem services Protected areas

Selected Publications

A framework for assessing threats and benefits to species responding to climate change

Current national and international frameworks for assessing threats to species have not been developed in the context of climate change, and are not framed in a way that recognises new opportunities.

Date
21 September 2010
RSPB Authors
Dr Richard Bradbury
Authors
Thomas, C.D., Hill, J.K., Anderson, B.J., Bailey, S., Beale, C.M., Bradbury, R.B., Bulman, C.R., Crick, H.Q.P., Eigenbrod, F., Griffiths, H.M., Kunin, W.E., Oliver, T.H., Walmsley, C.A., Watts, K., Wordfold, N.T. & Yardley, T.
Published in
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
View publication Details
UK Climate change

Protected areas facilitate species' range expansions

The benefits of protected areas (PAs) for biodiversity have been questioned in the context of climate change because PAs are static, whereas the distributions of species are dynamic. Current PAs may...

Date
28 August 2012
RSPB Authors
Dr Richard Bradbury
Authors
Thomas, C.D., Gillingham, P.K., Bradbury, R.B., Roy, D.B., Anderson, B.J., Baxter, J.M., Bourn, N.A.D., Crick, H.Q.P., Findon, R.A., Fox, R., Hodgson, J.A., Holt, A.R., Morecroft, M.D., O'Hanlon, N.J., Oliver, T.H., Pearce-Higgins, J.W., Procter, D.A., Thomas, J.A., Walker, K.J., Walmsley, C.A. et al.
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
View publication Details
UK Climate change Protected areas

Farmland birds and resource protection in the UK: Cross-cutting solutions for multi-functional farming?

Farmland bird declines in Europe are well documented. In the UK, agri-environment schemes are key mechanisms for reversing the declines of birds and other farmland biodiversity, but recent reviews...

Date
06 January 2006
RSPB Authors
Dr Richard Bradbury, Will Kirby
Authors
Bradbury, R.B. & Kirby, W.B.
Published in
Biological Conservation
View publication Details
UK Agriculture Identifying problems UK species

TESSA: A toolkit for rapid assessment of ecosystem services at sites of biodiversity conservation importance

Sites that are important for biodiversity conservation can also provide significant benefits (i.e. ecosystem services) to people. Decision-makers need to know how change to a site, whether development...

Date
09 July 2013
RSPB Authors
Dr Richard Bradbury
Authors
Peh, K.S.-H., Balmford, A., Bradbury, R.B., Brown, C., Butchart, S.H.M., Hughes, F.M.R., Stattersfield, A., Thomas, D.H.L., Walpole, M., Bayliss, J., Gowing, D., Jones, J.P.G., Lewis, S.L., Mulligan, M., Pandeya, B., Stratford, C., Thompson, J.R., Turner, K., Vira, B., Willcock, S. et al.
Published in
Ecosystem Services
View publication Details
International UK Ecosystem services

UK National Ecosystem Assessment: understanding nature's value to society. Synthesis of key findings

The UK NEA represents a first attempt to assess our stocks of natural ecosystem resources, their state and the trends in their development.

Date
01 June 2014
RSPB Authors
Dr Richard Bradbury
Authors
Richard Aspinall, Mel Austen, Richard Bardgett, Ian Bateman, Pam Berry, William Bird, Claire Brown, James Bullock, Jacquie Burgess, Andrew Church, Sue Christie, Ian Crute, Linda Davies, Gareth Edwards-Jones, Bridget Emmett, Les Firbank, Alastair Fitter, Chris Gibson, Rosie Hails, Roy Haines-Young, Louise Heathwaite, John Hopkins, Martin Jenkins, Laurence Jones, Georgina Mace, Stephen Malcolm, Ed Maltby, Lindsay Maskell, Ken Norris, Steve Ormerod, Juliet Osborne, Jules Pretty, Chris Quine, Shaun Russell, Lucy Simpson, Pete Smith, Megan Tierney, Kerry Turner, René van der Wal, Bhaskar Vira, Matt Walpole, Andrew Watkinson, Tony Weighell, Jonathan Winn and Michael Winter.
View publication Details
Ecosystem services
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