In the nearly four years that he has spent with RSK Biocensus, Dr. Tim Graham has gone from strength to strength, winning awards and inspiring his fellow colleagues. Having recently taken over as the lead for RSK Wilding, we wanted to take a look back on what made Tim who he is today, as an ecologist and leader.
Before joining RSK Biocensus, Tim spent over twenty years in the nature conservation and restoration sector. In this time, Tim held roles delivering large-scale nature recovery at the Yorkshire and Lancashire wildlife trusts, and was CEO of the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, as well as the Manx Wildlife Trust, where he oversaw the development of new nature-led strategy and staff delivering across nature reserves, conservation programmes, volunteering and all the supporting functions that make conservation happen.
Tim also briefly spent time setting up and developing an ecology focused team at the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). In this role, Tim contributed vital insights to UK environmental policy, including the Environmental Improvement Plan, Nature Recovery Green Paper, and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy development.
Tim is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) as Co-Convenor of the Ecological Restoration special interest group, as well as a member of the Audit Risk and Investment Committee. He is also the lead author on CIEEM’s ‘Rebuilding Nature guidance for large scale restoration and nature recovery’, and a board member of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s Large Scale Ecosystem Restoration Section (LERS).
After building a long record of achievement in protecting and enhancing biodiversity, Tim’s expertise and passion made him the perfect fit for our BNG and restoration focused team, RSK Wilding, which he joined as an Associate Director in October 2022.
In 2024, Tim then co-founded the Responsible Body business unit within RSK Wilding, as RSK Biocensus were rewarded ‘Responsible Body’ status by Defra. This means that we help landowners, developers and partnerships realise their conservation and nature-related goals in a manner that respects and enhances the natural environment – securing and providing assurance of outcomes over the long-term with Conservation Covenants as legal agreements.
At the CIEEM awards ceremony in June 2025, Tim was recognised as ‘Member of the Year’ for his efforts throughout his career, exemplifying outstanding dedication to biodiversity protection, innovation, and professional development.
Tim’s career in ecology has been an inspiration to many within RSK Biocensus, which means that he was the natural choice to take over as the lead for RSK Wilding earlier this year. Having Tim at the helm means that the future is bright, for both RSK Wilding, as well as RSK Biocensus as a whole.
We can’t wait to see how Tim continues to develop within the team, it has been a great journey so far, but it is most certainly far from over!