Gill Shepherd is a social scientist with over 40 years of experience in developing countries and tropical forests. She specializes in interdisciplinary research, predominantly in Africa and Asia, with a special focus on local people's forest conservation and management practices, on managing the relationship between biological diversity and livelihoods, and on fostering better links between tropical forestry and the development mainstream. She established ODI's Forest Policy and Environment Program in 1985 and headed it for many years. She has also worked as an academic researcher, advisor, or practitioner for FAO, the World Bank, the European Commission, CBD, UNDP, UNEP, and UNFF. Among other career highlights, she was one of a team of eight helping Bob Geldof to spend the money raised by Band Aid in 1985. Dr. Shepherd developed a quick forests-and-livelihoods appraisal method for DFID and PROFOR (World Bank) in 2005-2006, which was subsequently applied widely by IUCN. From 2006 to 2012 she worked with IUCN's Forest Conservation Program as Poverty Theme Lead on the 'Livelihoods and Landscapes' strategy. She won the Society of American Foresters' Award for Outstanding Contributions to Tropical Forestry in 1994.