GLDA Seminar 2025

Henrik Sjöman Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Scientific Curator at Gothenburg Botanical Garden and Honoree Research Associate at Royal Botanic Garden Kew. His work is mainly focusing on developing knowledge of site adapted plant use for urban environments including private gardens as well as public parks. How the capacity of different trees will vary in context to its environment and in delivering important ecosystem services has become the prime driver in Henrik’s work and as such how to extend the knowledge of diversifying our treescapes in parks and gardens.

Charlotte Hitchmough, has spent her career working in ‘watery’ things, beginning in the water industry, moving to the research councils and then to the Rivers Trust movement. She is Director of Action for the River Kennet and for eight years served on the board of the Rivers Trust. Throughout this time, she has developed and managed award winning projects to protect and improve rivers and their catchments. She is particularly interested in nature based solutions, and how communities and individuals can reduce their impact on every part of the water environment from water scarcity to pollution and flood risk.

Ann Marie Powell, Ann-Marie Powell’s multi-award-winning garden design practice has seen outdoor spaces as places with exciting possibilities for over twenty years. Based in the U.K., her studio can’t get enough of plants, bold colours and textural contrasts, creating garden habitats that invite a resilient, evolving ecology instead of the traditionally decorated garden. Sustainability is a fundamental value of our approach; she and her team strive to design naturally energetic and bold landscapes to become havens for an abundance of insects and wildlife where our clients live in harmony, up close and personal with the natural world.