Director
Dr Lucy Sutherland commenced as the Director of the National Botanic Garden of Wales in October 2022. With a research Masters and PhD in botanic garden management and policy, Lucy is passionate about how the National Botanic Garden of Wales provides public value on behalf of Wales and responds to the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2015) and the climate and nature emergency.
Since joining the NGW, Lucy has led the refresh of the Garden’s Strategy, focusing on growing the Garden’s role and impact as a national institution in Wales. This impact includes initiatives investing in STEM and nature-based education programmes for schools and introducing the Garden’s Every Child in Wales outreach initiative to benefit isolated communities; launching BioBlitz Citizen Science and ensuring an ongoing focus on science and research activities that secure the future of Welsh nature conservation.
As an experienced executive, Lucy has global knowledge of botanic gardens with a strong record of partnership building and leading highly effective stakeholder engagement across government, industry, academia and the not-for-profit sectors. Lucy is a Member of the Independent Advisory Board for the Natural Products BioHUB Green Economy Centre, Swansea University; an Independent Member on the Wakehurst Advisory Committee, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; and a Member on the Dyfed Regional Advisory Panel Heneb (The Trust for Welsh Archaeology).