There is now only one month to go in our open call for Associate Editors as we look to expand the diversity and expertise of our Editorial Board. Find out more about our new journal from the perspective of one of our current Associate Editors, Ian Thornhill.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am from Tamworth, Staffordshire, best known for a breed of pig and a motorway service station. I grew up spending many hours fishing in Kingsbury Water Park and it’s probably this that instilled a passion for the environment; when you stop still for a while, nature comes to you.

After a few years as an environmental consultant in Manchester, I embarked on a PhD at the University of Birmingham focused on urban ponds. I have since worked in local government offering ecology advice on local to national scale developments and in the charitable sector coordinating citizen science research. I am now a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University, and run an MSc in Environmental Management. I still go fishing occasionally.

What’s happening in your field that makes this new journal important?

There is a notable disconnect between academia and practice, and both sectors operate in parallel with very little cross over. There is also a considerable lag between research outputs influencing practice, and at the same time, there is not enough applicable, industry-led research.

Applied Ecology Resources and ESE could really help to address some of these issues. This is because the resource is designed with practitioners in mind, and with outputs that are equally accessible to academia and industry. The strong emphasis on studies that result in practical recommendations and in reduced formats should also make the journal more approachable to prospective authors who have important knowledge, but might otherwise be pushed for time or unfamiliar with the publication process.

Why should people submit to the journal and what kind of papers would you like to see submitted?

People should submit to ESE if they are interested in contributing to best practice, or avoiding malpractice. You may be an applied ecologist, or a practitioner with any amount of experience, so long as you have an important message you wish to convey. In any event, anyone interested should review the various article types that could work for them.

I would like to see papers from an international field on topics such as managing ecology on development sites, novel or developing survey techniques, long term datasets (e.g. data papers) and evidence of successful impact mitigation. I strongly encourage members of the chartered institutes to consider publishing with ESE.

The open call for Associate Editors will close Friday 21 July. If you are new to the Associate Editor role, check out these top tips provided by some of the Journal of Applied Ecology Editorial Board and follow us on Twitter to see when you can participate in the next live Twitter Q&A with some of the British Ecological Society journal editors.