As Head of Conservation, Sam’s role is to lead the development and delivery of VWT’s Conservation and Science work in line with the Trust’s Ten-year Strategy.  Sam joined VWT as Head of Conservation in May 2023. She completed her undergraduate degree in Zoology at the University of Aberdeen and an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare at the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD with The Queen’s University, Belfast, assessed the impact of individual behaviour of captive-bred swift fox reintroduced on to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, USA. Following six years as a research biologist with the Endangered Species Recovery Program in California, Sam returned to the UK to work as a Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University, where she led the Species Recovery Unit and a species-recovery focused Masters programme. She has worked on conservation programmes for a range of species, with a particular focus on meso-carnivores and conservation translocations.

Sam holds a number of honorary positions, including the IUCN National Species Survival Working Group; Mammal Society Scientific Advisory Committee; member of the Association of the Study of Animal Behaviour; the Editorial Review Board of Frontiers in Veterinary Science: Animal Behaviour & Welfare; member of the IUCN Conservation Translocation Specialist Group and Canid Specialist Group; and is the UK IUCN Focal Person representing the IUCN UK National Committee to the Species Survival Commission. In addition, Sam sits on several regional or species-specific working and advisory groups. Office: Southwell, Nottinghamshire and Ledbury.