Our volunteer Committee Members bring a diverse range of skills to KRAG, enabling the day to day management of our organisation and successful conservation and education projects.
Richard Griffiths - Acting Chair
Richard was at the inaugural meeting of KRAG back in the early 1990s, so it has taken him over a quarter of a century to become a committee member! This is largely down to other commitments which have involved conservation and training projects on five continents through the University of Kent where he is Emeritus Professor of Biological Conservation. He is also a past President of the British Herpetological Society and is currently a Trustee of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC Trust), Wildwood, the North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo) and a Director of the Newt Conservation Partnership. Although still involved with international projects, much of Richard’s focus is now on long-term studies of amphibians and reptiles in Kent which involve productive and ongoing collaborations with KRAG.
Rick Hodges - Secretary
Rick has been interested in herps for as long as he can remember. At age 16 he joined the British Herpetological Society (BHS) and in the same year got to work in the Reptile House at London Zoo as a volunteer. He has been lucky enough to work overseas in places where he could study the local fauna. In the early 1990s he arrived back in Kent and soon after joined KRAG. Since 2005, he has been KRAG Hon. Secretary, leader of the ‘Helping Adders up Ladders’ project, and coordinator of monitoring projects in West Kent. On behalf of the BHS, he is the editor of The Herpetological Bulletin.
Gail Austen - Treasurer
Gail joined the Committee when invited to be Chair in 2010. She has a general interest in British wildlife, and is passionate about biological recording and its importance in providing valuable information to decision makers. Gail’s role as Chair was multi-faceted and always with new challenges. After 6 years of dedication Gail stepped down from this role to hand the baton over. Gail became the group's treasurer in 2017.
Tara Hall - Education Officer
Tara's always had a passion for wildlife and grew up in Kent's countryside either searching for minibeasts, pond dipping or looking after slow worms in her Nan's back garden. Since then, Tara's love for reptiles and amphibians has lead her to join the KRAG committee in 2016 as Education Officer, where she's keen to spread her knowledge and enthusiasm for Britain's herpetofauna to younger generations
John Rowland - Recording Officer
John has always had an avid interest in natural history and conservation, with fond memories of counting frogs and newts on family camping holidays as a child. He pursued this passion through his work and education, and is currently a research student at the University of Kent, studying great crested newt population ecology. John joined the KRAG committee in 2024 as coordinator of the Great Crested Newt Monitoring Project, and is always keen to assist with amphibian surveys in the county.
Lawrie Hills - Recording Officer
Lawrie has monitored two reptile populations in east Kent since 2019 and often travels abroad to search for reptiles and amphibians. Currently studying a PhD in Biodiversity Management at the University of Kent, Lawrie is researching the potential impacts of gamebird releasing on reptiles in the UK. Besides responsibility for the KRAG website and media, Lawrie assists with KRAG’s recording work and training courses.
Doug Warner - Development Officer
With a long-standing interest in natural history, Doug joined the Great Crested Newt Monitoring Project in 2015 after attending a KRAG training day. He became a member of the KRAG committee in 2019 where, in his role as Development Officer, he assists with enquiries related to building works and herptile welfare.
If you are interested in becoming more involved with the running of our group we would be delighted to hear from you