Get to know the 2025-2026 cohort of the Youth Panel below!
There are currently 12 volunteers aged between 16-25 serving on our Youth Panel to represent youth voice at Field Studies Council.
Clark Pearce (he/him) 20
Somerset & Devon
Born and raised in Somerset, Clark has developed a love for our natural landscapes from a young age. He loves to explore new areas and habitats in his free time by going on long hikes with his dog. His love for nature is what pushed him to study Biological Sciences at university, and he is especially interested in learning more about the ecology of British woodland ecosystems.
Clark decided to join the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel as he has a passion for environmental education and believes that passing on this knowledge to the next generation is vital for instilling a deep love and respect of the environment in young people.
He is looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Field Studies Council to help them engage with young people in a meaningful, lasting way.
Connor Edwards (he/they) 22
Nottinghamshire
Connor is a university student from Nottinghamshire studying Wildlife Conservation at Nottingham Trent University. He has recently completed an Industry year working as a Long Term Volunteer in Surrey on the Box Hill estate as a volunteer ranger. Connor used his placement year as an opportunity to use the unique habitats on Box Hill to collect data for his dissertation. An avid photographer and rambler, Connor spends a lot of time outdoors hiking and creating, editing nature photographs and videos.
As a previous Young Darwin Scholar Connor was keen to join the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel to help improve the Scholarship and make it more accessible for others, as it has helped him to move on to further study environmental topics and explore the countryside employment sector.
He has been on the Youth Panel since 2023 and is looking forward to staying on into 2026.
Grace Samuel (she/her), 20
West Yorkshire & London
Growing up a stone’s throw from the Yorkshire Dales, Grace has always felt at home in the calm of nature. Her love for geography and sustainable development led her to study BSc Politics and International Relations at University College London (UCL) where she explores how environmental and social issues intertwine. She hopes to pursue research in climate justice and ecological civilisation to help reconnect people with the natural world.
Grace enjoys birdwatching, gardening and painting and loves to explore places with interesting geology. She believes creativity and time outdoors are powerful tools for wellbeing and is passionate about making nature accessible for young people to experience its value for both mindfulness and conservation.
Formerly Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at her previous school and now founder of the Intersectional Justice Society at UCL, Grace champions equality and environmental stewardship. Her dedication to youth engagement continues through her advisory roles with charities focused on conservation, ornithology and youth mental health.
Hannah Barratt (she/her), 20
Leeds
Hannah is a final-year BSc Environmental Science student with a deep passion for wildlife and ecology. As President of the Conservation Volunteers Society at her university, she leads projects that support biodiversity and connect students with nature.
Alongside her studies, Hannah has developed a strong interest in marine conservation, holding a diving qualification and taking part in research and volunteering dives in Croatia and Mexico, where she contributed to coral reef monitoring and debris removal projects.
She joined the Youth Panel to help amplify young environmental voices and connect with others who share her passion for protecting the planet. In 2025, Hannah was awarded the Young Darwin Scholarship at Wilder Doddington, and she’s proud to support Field Studies Council as a charity that plays such an important role in inspiring future conservationists. In her spare time, Hannah enjoys knitting and exploring the outdoors. She hopes to continue working at the intersection of environmental science and community engagement, inspiring others to care for the natural world.
Maud Brown (she/her), 23
London & Bristol
Maud is a University of Bristol Geography Graduate currently living and working in London. She is an environmental generalist, but favorably mingles with the world of fungi, lichen, and seaweed. Maud is a keen forager, having co-founded and supported the University of Bristol Mycology Society, leading the first ever forays for the Bristol student community. She enjoys teaching about the deeply interconnected natural environment, and when managed well, can be an enjoyable scavenger hunt, a relaxing landscape, and more!
If she isn’t hiking and foraging, she enjoys engaging in citizen science and nature volunteering for wildlife & river trusts whenever she can, whether it’s monitoring shad migration for the Severn Rivers Trust, reporting local river pollutants for the Avon Rivers Trust, coppicing trees in urban parks with Trees for Cities, planting bulbs with Park Rangers, or identifying waxcaps for Plantlife.
She believes that community engagement combined with locally tailored nature restoration projects creates a more sustainable UK- this is needed in cities, the most ecologically depleted areas yet with the highest populations. Education comes first, and we need to raise more awareness and interest regarding our unique natural environments and the stories they can tell! Maud is excited to be on the Youth Panel for the Field Studies Council, having enjoyed her time learning about urban ecology on the Young Darwin Scholarship in 2022. She aims to support the improvement of accessibility for neurodivergent people and for those living in cities, ensuring that the Field Studies Council sparks interest and is positively impactful for all.
Mia Clement (she/they), 23
Shropshire
Mia is a youth activist and communicator passionate about making environmental action inclusive, creative, and community-led with a dash of beaver-led restoration involved. Based in Shropshire, she currently works as a Digital Communications Officer for Shropshire Wildlife Trust, where she helps connect people with nature through storytelling, social media, and digital strategy.
With a background in geography from the University of Oxford, Mia has experience across ecosystem restoration, youth work, and environmental education. She has previously served as Vice-President of Oxford University Students’ Union, a Youth Adviser for Groundwork UK and was lucky enough to be a 2025 Young Darwin Scholar.
Mia joined the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel to help ensure young voices are at the heart of environmental learning and to champion opportunities for all young people to connect with nature in meaningful, accessible and creative ways!
Millicent Wenlock (she/her), 22
Staffordshire
Millicent is an Environmental Science graduate from the University of Stirling and currently works as a Walking the Talk Campaign Consultant for Restless Development, advocating for gender equity in development aid. Alongside this, she holds several advisory and leadership roles across national organisations, including serving as Co-Chair of the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance Student Advisory Board, an Ambassador for the #iWill Movement, and an Advisor for Ambitious about Autism. Her work centres on youth empowerment, inclusion, and sustainability.
Millicent joined the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel to help make environmental education more inclusive, accessible, and relevant to young people. She is passionate about ensuring that youth voices are at the heart of environmental protection and that learning connects people of all backgrounds to nature. Through the Youth Panel, she aims to contribute her experience in policy, advocacy, and sustainability leadership to support the Field Studies Council’s mission of inspiring the next generation of changemakers.
Nick Ferrar (he/him), 17
London
Nick has lived his whole life in a city and, as a result, has a particular interest in the various forms urban wildlife takes. Some of his most vivid memories are close encounters with the urban fox, the spectacular gathering of stag beetles just outside his house, one summer’s evening, and a tree across the street festooned in parakeets.
In his free time, Nick loves to walk and cycle through the greenspaces of London to see the abundance of wildlife in the parks, woods and gardens. As well as these more obvious wildlife zones, Nick has a particular interest in ‘Edgelands’: the disused plots of land, railway cuttings, roadside verges and canal banks which, although – or perhaps, because – they are overlooked, have become areas of huge ecological significance. He challenges the sometimes-held misperception that urban areas are ecologically barren – in fact, there can be more biodiversity in some pockets of urban land than much larger areas of countryside. Whilst this contradiction is concerning, for Nick it is also a source of hope – what better place to focus on bringing back wildlife than the very doorsteps of our homes?
Nick’s love of nature has prompted him to volunteer at Saturday school, where he teaches Biology to local primary school children in the hope that by instilling a fascination in the world around them, he can pass on a desire to care for and protect the nature which is such an important part of our lives. This same hope is what lead him to join the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel, where he can work together with like-minded individuals to ensure that as many people as possible learn to love nature.
Phoebe Gardner-Smith (she/her), 23
Sheffield & West Sussex
Growing up on the south coast of England, Phoebe developed a deep passion for marine biodiversity and the natural world that continues to shape her path in conservation. She is now a fourth-year Integrated Masters Biology student at the University of Sheffield, specialising in marine conservation, management, and biodiversity resilience. Her academic work spans a wide range of ecological themes, including coral reef threat management, the illegal primate trade, urban avian conservation, and even crocodilian maternal care.
When she’s not making lattes and reading books at her job in a local bookshop café, Phoebe volunteers as a Conservation Data Analyst with the Born Free Foundation and works as a Biosciences Ambassador and Zoological Museum Presenter, helping to make science accessible and engaging for diverse audiences.
She joined the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel to support inclusive environmental education and amplify youth voices in conservation. Phoebe is passionate about connecting people with nature through research, outreach, and collaborative learning, and hopes to help shape programmes that empower young people to engage with and enjoy the natural world.
Sanchi Pathak (she/her), 20
Buckinghamshire & Oxford
Sanchi is a young nature enthusiast and Geography student at the University of Oxford, hoping to pursue a career in the environmental sector in the future. Sanchi enjoys adventuring outdoors and learning about nature from a variety of viewpoints.
She is on the Youth Panel because she was very grateful to have experienced the Young Darwin Scholarship offered by the Field Studies Council in 2023 and is passionate about giving back to the charity and connecting more youth, especially from underrepresented backgrounds, to the natural world.
In her spare time, Sanchi likes to go out on walks with her WildID guides to identify and write about the species she finds, as well as take photos of them.
Suzannah McGhee (she/her), 17
Fife
Through doing the Duke of Edinburgh Suzannah was able to further realise her love of the natural world and the beauty of different landscapes. This was further explored when completing her residential aspect with the Field Studies Council on a geography camp in the Lake District. There she saw glaciated landscapes and peat bogs alongside new friends while being educated on fieldwork and the issues facing the area. This was an incredibly valuable experience and has motivated her to join the Youth Panel to encourage more people, especially from Scotland, to engage with and learn about the environment.
Recently, Suzannah has left high school and hopes to use more of her time outdoors. She aims to observe more of Scotland’s scenery and wildlife as well as expand her knowledge in areas such as bats and identifying plants. Additionally, she is excited to study geography in her undergraduate degree starting in September next year. In her free time, Suzannah also volunteers in her local charity shop and plays the violin.
Ximena Anco (she/her), 23
Liverpool & Lima, Peru
Ximena is a recent University of Liverpool Zoology graduate passionate about ecology, environmental education, and youth engagement in conservation. Growing up in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon, and as a Scout, sparked passion for protecting wildlife and inspiring others to connect with nature.
Currently working as a laboratory technician supporting evolutionary biology studies, she aims to build a career in the ecology and conservation sector. Ximena also serves on the Chester Zoo Youth Board, where she contributes to strategic decisions on conservation education, community engagement, and commercial growth.
Her experience spans fieldwork, research, education, animal husbandry and outreach, through organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts and RSPB, from marine megafauna (dolphins, seals, porpoises), great crested newts, and bat surveys to small mammal (field voles) and toxicology research, and habitat management work for birds and reptiles with local wildlife groups.
In her spare time, she enjoys expanding her knowledge of science and nature through certified training such as project planning for conservation work and environmental leadership, as well as volunteering in biodiversity monitoring and citizen science initiatives.
Ximena is particularly interested in how people and nature can thrive together through community action and, as a member of the Field Studies Council’s Youth Panel, hopes to help make nature education more inclusive and accessible for young people from diverse backgrounds.