Lauren Maria Gardiner

My role in the Conservation Science department focused on working with our team based in Madagascar to produce collections-based scientific outputs which could be used to inform practical on-the-ground conservation through our work with partners. Specialising in palms and orchids, I worked with our Malagasy colleagues to provide local communities with the information and resources they need to proactively conserve species and habitats, and to speed up the rate at which we assessed, documented, and prioritised taxa for conservation action, whilst emphasising the role of locally-focused sustainable development.

Manage and curate the collections and data resources of the Palms and Pandans Team; contributing to the palm research programme of RBG Kew through independent research and support of research staff and visitors. - primary manager and curator of collections - managing www.palmweb.org, prominent online biodiversity information portal, maintain and enhance content, liaise with software developers at Kew and in Berlin, contribute to allied projects (e.g. Palmworld app, eMonocot, Scratchpads) - identifying and naming incoming specimens - carrying out collections-based taxonomic research, producing high quality scientific publications, specialising in Malesian palms (especially New Guinea) - representing Kew internationally at conferences, workshops and on fieldwork, deputising for team leader - acquiring new herbarium specimens through fieldwork and verification in the Living Collections - facilitating access to the collections by internal and external users - digitising palm herbarium specimens, through own activity and management of volunteers - selecting, supervising and training visitors, volunteers, students and interns (eg. herbarium techniques, digitisation, Palmweb informatic tools, Red Listing) - managing website of the European Network of Palm Specialists (EUNOPS), assist in organisation of annual EUNOPS meeting by acting as Secretary to EUNOPS - supporting the Chair of the IUCN SSC Palm Specialist Group, Secretary to the group and maintaining its website - supporting logistics, planning and administration in one-off projects such as the Joseph Dalton Hooker Centenary Celebration symposium in December 2011, and Wallace palm conservation project - communicating specialist knowledge of palms to external audiences eg. MSc students - representing Herbarium and Palm & Pandan team on cross-departmental groups, and at workshops eg. the Diversity and Equality Group (DEG), Science and Horticulture Systems workshops, eMonocot plenaries, etc