The John Spedan Lewis Emerging Leader Award

The John Spedan Lewis Emerging Leader Award for the UK Natural Environment is awarded in collaboration with the John Lewis Partnership Foundation.

Formerly awarded by The John Spedan Lewis Foundation (JSLF), a UK nature charity created in honour of the founder of the John Lewis Partnership, who had a keen interest in UK nature and natural history. From 2024, the Award forms part of the John Lewis Partnership Foundation’s Nature Fund.

The next round of nominations for this award will open in May 2025.

• Nominees must have led an initiative with notable positive impact for the UK natural environment
• Nominees must be based in the UK, but need not be UK nationals; applications are welcomed from all nationalities
• The work of nominees must take place in the UK
• Nominees must be within the first 10 years of their engagement with the UK natural environment. This period does not need to be continuous and should allow for career breaks
• Nominees can be professional or non-professional
• Nominees should have a strong track record of engaging the public in their work, including under-served communities such as minority ethnic or low-income backgrounds, or those who are differently abled
• There is no age restriction (no upper or lower limit) for nominees. However, for safeguarding reasons, the application form will require contact details for the parent or guardian of nominees under the age of 18.

For the purposes of the Award, 'UK natural environment' includes activities like:

• Climate and environmental activism and campaigning
• Natural history (i.e. the study of wild plants and animals)
• Nature conservation research
• Nature conservation practical interventions (e.g. habitat improvement)

• Nominators should provide evidence of change that has taken place as a consequence of the intervention of the candidate (for example evidence of: policy change, positive change in the natural environment, change of attitude of a community towards an environmental issue).
• Impact should be at regional (city/ county) or national level
• Impact should be long-lasting (i.e. greater than one year)

Neither nominators nor nominees are required to be Fellows of the Linnean Society.

The original JSLF Medal was created in 2014 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Foundation. In 2022 the JSLF Trustees were excited to launch a new version of the medal that celebrates emerging leaders in the UK natural environment.

Megan Gimber

‘This award is a surprise, delight, and an honour; reflecting the dedication of many. It means a huge amount to me for geekery, passion and perseverance to be rewarded in this way. People and communities are the key to conservation, and our project successes reflect the power of inspiration, education and hope.’

Self-professed ‘hedgerow geek’ Megan Gimber has spent almost a decade advocating for the protection, management, and growth of the UK’s depleted hedgerows.

Megan manages two hedgerow surveys for the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES): The Great British Hedgerow Survey and Healthy Hedgerows, the latter of which she developed into an app for farmers to aid rapid hedge assessment with direct and tailored management advice. Running training courses and walks, her outreach also extends to the media where she has appeared on radio, podcasts, at festivals and in print, with many feeding back that her inspirational work has left them consumed with ‘hedge fever’!