Thomas Brooks is Head of IUCN 's Science and Knowledge Unit. He is responsible for supporting the scientific underpinning to IUCN 's knowledge products, ensuring IUCN 's scientific engagement in peer biodiversity-science-related networks, and helping to strengthen the culture of science across the union.
Before joining IUCN in January 2013, Tom was Vice President for Science and Chief Scientist of NatureServe and held biodiversity science positions in The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, as well as visiting appointments at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in the University of the Philippines Los Baños and the University of Tasmania. His field experience is primarily from tropical forest hotspots: in Kenya, Paraguay, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Tom is an ornithologist by training, with a B.A. in Geography and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He served on the Executive Committee of the BP Conservation Leadership Programme and co-chaired the IUCN-Rio Tinto Net Positive Impact Protocol & Review Panel Team. He has a long-standing involvement with IUCN, and serves as co-chair of its joint taskforce on ‘Biodiversity and Protected Areas ', the Steering Committee of its Species Survival Commission, and its Red List Committee.
Tom is the author of 198 scientific and popular articles.