Dr Mary Seddon

Appointed By: Secretary of State for the Environment

Address: Glebe House Cottage, Exbourne, Okehampton, Devon EX20 3RD

Telephone: 07738884804

Email: mary.seddon@dartmoor.gov.uk

Committees and Panels:
National Park Authority; Development Management Committee; Dartmoor Trust; South West Water Recreation and Conservation Forum

Biographical Details

Mary Seddon has lived in the Okehampton area on the northern edge of Dartmoor since 2008.

For nearly two decades Mary worked as a scientist and curator at the National Museum of Wales, managing a team working on the Natural Science collections.  During this time she worked on Biodiversity, Capacity Building and Outreach projects in Wales, Europe and Africa. Since taking early retirement she has worked part-time with her husband, John Elson, who runs an outdoor activity centre and two YHA Youth Hostels in Okehampton.

She is a long-established member of a large volunteer network (Species Survival Commission), providing advice and support for the work of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As part of this work, she chairs a group dedicated to understanding and protecting Molluscs, an often-overlooked yet ecologically important group of invertebrates. She is currently a member of the IUCN Post 2020 Biodiversity Targets Taskforce and IUCN SSC Invertebrate Conservation Committee.

For the last eight years, she has been a Trustee of the Museum of Dartmoor Life which has been actively promoting the heritage and social history of Dartmoor.

Other interests include archaeology, gardening, photography and travel.