David W. Macdonald CBE FRSE is Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Oxford. Founder and Director of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), and a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. In addition to his conservation research, he is heavily involved in the practice and policy of conservation, and is also known through his films and books on wildlife.

Katherine J. Willis is the Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford, Director of the Oxford Martin School Biodiversity Institute (BIO) in the Department of Zoology, and a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. She is also an adjunct Professor in Biology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her work within the Biodiversity Institute falls under three key research areas: biodiversity beyond protected areas; ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for biodiversity; and biodiversity technologies. She is also heavily involved in the development of smartphone and web-based decision support tools to facilitate the transfer of knowledge on biodiversity science and ecosystem services into conservation, management and policy.