We are delighted to congratulate Dr Keith Kirby who was appointed an MBE in The King’s Birthday Honours List today, for services to ecology, forestry, and woodland management.
Upon receiving the honour, Dr Kirby said:
"Fifty years ago, I was finishing my DPhil studying bramble growth in Wytham Woods. I had no idea where it would lead, but I ended up with the Nature Conservancy Council as national forestry and woodland officer. Thirty plus years later in 2012 I retired from Natural England as it had become, returning to Oxford and continuing my studies in Wytham as visiting researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences / Biology. It has been a privilege to work in forestry and conservation over all this time and to be given this honour is fantastic."
Keith’s work centres on documenting long-term ecological changes in British woodlands through resurveying permanent vegetation plots established decades ago, examining impacts from deer browsing, tree diseases, and historical land use. He has particular interest in wood-pasture systems and their significance for understanding both historical landscapes and contemporary rewilding approaches.
