Ed Ikin

Ed Ikin is the Director of Wakehurst, leading Kew’s 535-acre wild botanic garden and fostering research partnerships with Kew Science. Ed has pioneered major new projects in the Sussex site, including the creation of a new six-acre American Prairie, Wakehurst’s most ambitious horticultural project in over a decade, and the award-winning Winter Garden. In 2021, Ed launched Nature Unlocked: the Landscape Ecology Programme at Wakehurst, a new science research project that uses Wakehurst’s rich landscape as a ‘living laboratory’ to scientifically measure nature’s benefits for people and the environment. Prior to joining Wakehurst, Ed was Chair of London Parks & Gardens Trust and General Manager for National Trust London, opening the organisation's first garden centre at Morden Hall Park. Ed was a 2017 Clore Fellow.