Following an intense selection process that attracted fierce contenders from across the international platform, the National Botanic Garden of Wales has confirmed that its new director will be leading horticulturalist Dr Lucy Sutherland.
Having studied for her PhD in the United Kingdom, Bristol-born Lucy first visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales when it opened over 22 years ago.
“This is an exciting and rare chance to lead a relatively young botanic garden through its next phase of maturity and it’s also a unique opportunity at a time when the global population is facing multiple crises,” Said Dr Sutherland.
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“There is growing ambition and support for addressing climate change and continuing our efforts towards biodiversity conservation and a sustainable future.
“And naturally the National Botanic Garden of Wales will continue to play a critical role in this agenda.”
Dr Sutherland will be joining the Botanic Garden from her role as a Strategic Consultant to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust which manages the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden and the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.
She is an experienced executive with 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.
Dr Sutherland is an Honorary Professor at the University of Adelaide and was previously the Director of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia, as well as acting director of the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the national co-ordinator of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership.
Meanwhile Botanic Garden’s chair of trustees, Mr Gary Davies, has described the appointment as ‘a real asset’.
“We’re confident that as we seek to take the garden forward into a bright, new and confident future Dr Sutherland is going to prove a real asset.
“Her hugely impressive international career, experience and skills further demonstrate Wales’s exciting ambition to be an internationally-renowned centre for biodiversity conservation, research and life-long learning.
Dr Lucy Sutherland will take over the reins of one of Wales’s premier visitor destinations in October 2022.
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