Keynote Speaker

Helen Margaret Greaves is a freshwater ecologist and Research Associate at University College London (UCL), working with the Pond Restoration Research Group. Her research focuses on the ecological restoration of freshwater ponds and their role in supporting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and climate resilience within agricultural landscapes. She has most recently contributed to the EU Horizon 2020 PONDERFUL project, an international collaboration investigating the ecological and societal value of ponds across Europe, including research examining how pond restoration influences greenhouse-gas dynamics and the role of small waterbodies in climate regulation.

Helen is co-founder and executive director of the award-winning Norfolk Ponds Project CIC, a conservation partnership established in 2014 that integrates academic research with practical habitat restoration. Working with farmers, conservation organisations, and public bodies, the project has restored historic farmland ponds — including long-buried “ghost ponds” and overgrown “zombie ponds” — demonstrating their remarkable capacity to rapidly recover biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services following restoration.

From 2018 to 2023, Helen served as Secretary of the European Pond Conservation Network, helping to strengthen international collaboration among researchers and practitioners working to conserve small freshwater ecosystems. Alongside her academic work, she is founder and director of Restoreco Ltd., which develops the concept of restorative ecology — an approach that links ecological restoration with the restoration of human wellbeing through participation in practical conservation.

Through both research and practice, Helen uses the humble pond as a model system for understanding wider freshwater processes, demonstrating how the restoration of small aquatic habitats can contribute to biodiversity recovery, water resilience, and climate-sensitive landscape management.