2 July 2021
Dr Eimear M Nic Lughadha
Senior Research Leader
I lead the Conservation Assessment and Analysis team in Kew’s Conservation Science Department. Our focus is primarily at species level, utilising Kew’s outstanding collections, particularly herbarium specimens, to help inform conservation action by developing and applying suitable analytical methods to enhance prioritisation, improve Red List assessments and to understand and monitor the status of the world’s plants.
My own research and professional interests include:
- Enhancing access to plant diversity data and maximising their relevance to conservation and sustainable use outcomes
- Documenting and interpreting large-scale patterns of plant diversity in conservation contexts
- Development and maintenance of global authority files of plant names and species
- Systematics and conservation of neotropical Myrtoideae (Myrtaceae)
- BA (Mod.), Natural Sciences (Botany), Trinity College Dublin, 1987
- PhD, Univ. St. Andrews, 1998
- Member, Global Biodiversity Sub-Committee, Global Environmental Change Committee (2004-2010)
- Member, Darwin Advisory Committee (2003-2009)
- Member, Royal Society Working Group on Measuring Biodiversity (2002-2003)
- Specialist Advisor to Science and Technology Select Committee, House of Lords (2001-2002)
- Commission for Flora Neotropica 1998
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Remote sensing for the Caatinga of Brazil
Learning to live with the forest: remote sensing for sustainable use of seasonally dry tropical forests.
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Global Plants Initiative (GPI)
Increasing access to nomenclatural type specimens held in herbaria across the world through digitisation.
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Reflora
Repatriating Brazil’s plant diversity information and building capacity for greater use through digitisation, dissemination and research visits.
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Kew’s Plant Assessment Unit
Accelerating the identification of plants threatened with extinction and increasing the knowledge available on the conservation status of less well-represented groups on the IUCN Red List.
Paton, A., & Nic Lughadha, E. (2011)
The irresistible target meets the unachievable objective: what have 8 years of GSPC implementation taught us about target setting and achievable objectives?
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 166: 250-260
Rivers, M.C., Brummit, N.A., Nic Lughadha, E. & Meagher, T.R. (2011)
Genetic variation in Delonix s.l. (Leguminosae) in Madagascar revealed by AFLPs: fragmentation, conservation status and taxonomy
Conservation Genetics 12: 1333-1344
Rivers, M.C., Taylor, L., Brummit, N.A., Meagher, T.R., Roberts, D.L. & Nic Lughadha, E. (2011)
How many herbarium specimens are needed to detect threatened species?
Biological Conservation 144: 2541-2547
Rivers, M.C., Bachman, S.P., Meagher, Nic Lughadha, E. & Brummit, N.A. (2010)
Subpopulations, locations and fragmentation: applying IUCN red list criteria to herbarium specimen data
Biodiversity and Conservation 19: 2071-2085
Murray-Smith, C., Brummit, N.A., Oliveira-Filho, A.T., Bachman, S., Moat, J.,Nic Lughadha, E. & Lucas, E.J. (2009)
Plant Diversity Hotspots in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil
Conservation Biology 23: 151-163
