Julia P.G. Jones

Julia Patricia Gordon Jones is a British conservation scientist who is a professor at Bangor University and Prince Bernhard Chair in International Nature Conservation at Utrecht University. She looks to make conservation efforts more effective by advancing methods for evaluating conservation policy and practice. Jones is on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature. She was awarded an Member of the British Empire in the 2026 New Year Honours.

Early life and education Jones completed her doctorate on Astacidae, and the 2005 invasion of marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis), at the University of Cambridge. She has said that her doctorate inspired her lifelong interest in interdisciplinary research, particularly the combination of social science and ecology.

Research and career Jones looks to advance conservation efforts by making them more effective for people and the environment. She looks to design interventions, data collection and analytical tools that help understand whether conservation is working. For example, she has studied forest carbon programmes and how they can be more efficient in locking-up carbon and protecting poor and vulnerable people. In 2014, she was awarded the British Ecological Society Founders' Prize. At Utrecht she explores conservation impact evaluation, and the social dimensions of conservation. In 2024, she was interviewed on BBC Panorama due to her expertise on REDD+ carbon credits.

Jones has worked in Madagascar on topics ranging from the impacts of invasive marble crayfish to the impacts of human development on the native forest cover based on causal analysis.

In June 2025, Jones was appointed as an advisor to the Chief Scientists Group, where she serves as co-chair. She was awarded a Member of the British Empire in the 2026 New Year Honours.

Selected publications