Richard Brazier

It's such a positive feeling to be part of something like this.

An academic pioneer who's been driving engaged research and funding for peatland restoration and environmental and water system resilience more widely is Professor Richard Brazier, founding director of the Centre for Resilience and Environment, Water and Waste, or CRU as I'll call it for short, at the University of Exeter.

His official title is Professor of Earth Surface Processes, but his background in working in extreme desert environments inspired and informed his visionary approach to working to restore nature and re-wet landscapes across the UK and beyond, and he's now a global expert on water resilience.

Among other projects, he runs a research programme called Upstream Thinking.