About the authors

RÓisín Campbell-Palmer is currently the Conservation Projects Manager for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, where she has worked for 12 years, beginning as an animal keeper. For the last five years she has focused on the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland through her role as the Field Operations Manager for the Scottish Beaver Trial. She is also undertaking her PhD in beaver health and welfare through Telemark University College (TUC), Norway, publishing a number of journal articles on this subject. Most recently RÓisín has completed a trapping for health and genetic screening project on Tayside beavers for Scottish Natural Heritage. She also sits on the Beaver Advisory Committee for England and the Scottish National Species Reintroduction Forum. RÓisín completed her honours degree in Zoology at the University of Glasgow and her MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare at the University of Edinburgh. She is passionate about native wildlife conservation.

Derek Gow is a freelance ecologist who has worked with beavers and water voles in Britain for over 20 years. During this time he has organised the quarantine and import of beavers from Poland, Germany and Norway. He has travelled widely in Europe to study beavers in a range of different landscapes. Derek has advised both Natural England and Countryside Council for Wales’s feasibility studies regarding beaver reintroduction.

Robert Needham has always been passionate about wildlife and its conservation, and more recently reintroductions of former native species. His studies have included a BSc in Wildlife Management and an MSc in Ecology. He has worked in some spectacular landscapes in Norway and Scotland and been privileged to work with some of Europe’s most charismatic species including Eurasian Lynx, Wolverine, Capercaillie, and last but not least the Eurasian beaver. He has spent the past three and a half years working on the Scottish Beaver Trial and considers it an honour to be involved in the first trial reintroduction of a mammal species in the UK. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Southampton researching the relationship between beaver dams and the movement of fish.

Simon Jones has recently been appointed as Director of Conservation at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and was the Project Manager for the Scottish Beaver Trial between 2008 and 2014. Simon’s career in wildlife conservation and reserve management extends over 20 years and across various parts of the UK and abroad. He lives in rural Stirlingshire with his family and four bikes.

Frank Rosell is a renowned beaver ecologist and is presently a professor in behaviour ecology at Telemark University College in Norway. He completed his BSc degree in Chemical Engineering in 1991 at Østfold University College. He finished his MSc thesis in 1994 and his PhD in 2002, both at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has worked at TUC since 1994 and has taught a number of different courses in wildlife management, conservation biology and behavioural ecology. He has a broad scientific interest and has published more than 80 scientific papers with peer review. At TUC he is a member of the research committee and the PhD committee in Ecology. He was also a part of advisory board of the Scottish Beaver Trial.