Dr Celia Caulcott has been appointed as the new Chair to lead the Lake District National Park Partnership.
The Partnership is currently made up of 20 organisations from the public, private and charity sectors who work together to deliver the positive management of the Lake District National Park and World Heritage Site.
Celia will take over the helm from Stephen Henwood CBE who stands down in May, following five years in the role. She will lead the Partnership in an ambitious plan for the Lake District to deliver on five key areas:
Celia has had a successful career in the bioscience research and innovation sectors. She has held various senior roles including Executive Director of the government’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and most recently the position of Vice-Provost (Enterprise) for University College London.
A regular visitor to her family’s farmhouse in the Lake District since the 1960s, she now lives here having recently retired, and is involved in managing land for both farming and nature conservation.
She will provide the strong leadership required to look after the National Park’s internationally recognised living and working landscape as it moves into a period of both significant challenge and opportunity in the delivery of the Partnership’s Management Plan.
On her appointment, Celia said: “I’m honoured to have been invited to chair the Lake District National Park Partnership, and greatly look forward to working with all the Partners in taking forward the vision."
She added: “I am passionate about food and our farming industry, the benefit bioscience can bring to us all, the arts and the Lake District and can’t wait to fully immerse myself in Lake District life and get started in this new role.”