Simon Stuart

About Simon Stuart

Chief Scientific Adviser

Simon Stuart was previously our Director of Strategic Conservation.

In December 2020, Simon took on the role of Executive Director of A Rocha International but remains as our Chief Scientific Adviser on a part-time basis. Before joining Synchronicity Earth, Simon served as Chair of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The SSC is a science-based network with more than 10,000 experts from all over the world. SSC’s major role is to provide information and advice to the worldwide conservation community on biodiversity conservation, including through the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Simon has undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Cambridge, with fieldwork in Tanzania and Cameroon.

Simon started work in BirdLife International in 1983, joined the IUCN Secretariat in 1986, and was elected as Chair of the SSC in October 2008.

Simon has been instrumental in the development of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the Key Biodiversity Area global standard and played a key role in identifying and addressing the global amphibian extinction crisis.

He has also produced numerous high-impact scientific papers and books. For all this work, he won the Blue Planet Prize in 2020.