Thematic Vice Chair, Science and Biodiversity Policy. Stephen Woodley is an ecologist, who has worked in the field of protected areas for 35 years. He worked as a consultant, a field biologist, manager of a national fire restoration program and forest ecologist before becoming the first Chief Scientist for Parks Canada in 1992. In that position he worked on a number of issues related to protected areas, including ecological monitoring, species at risk, wildlife disease, ecological restoration and science policy. In July, 2011, Stephen began working as Senior Advisor to the Global Protected Areas Program of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and continues that work as Co-Chair of the Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas, jointly established by the World Commission on Protected Areas and the Species Survival Commission.