Join us for the second Environmental Justice Network meeting, where we will be exploring the interplay between environmental justice issues and scientific integrity of environmental projects, and exploring how environmental professionals can approach issues of environmental injustice in their organisation. 

We will be joined by the following speakers: 

• Sybille Raphael, Legal Director at Protect Advice: Employee activism and environmental-related whistleblowing - This presentation will focus on employee activism and responses to environmental-related misconduct in organisations. The presentation will cover: 
  • Why environmental-related employee activism is on the rise and why it matters
  • What the employers' obligations are in relation to environmental justice 
  • How workers can argue environmental-related discrimination in the workplace
  • How and when the whistle should be blown on environmental-related issues 
• Prof Ian Rotherham, Sheffield Hallam University: The politics & science of urban street trees – lessons from the Sheffield experience - Problems with managing urban street trees and with their economics and politics go back many decades but recent events have triggered much greater awareness by the public, professionals, and politicians. The difficulties experienced in Sheffield were by no means unique (many UK cities having similar episodes) but the public campaign to protect the trees became a cause célèbre and the issues and projects became a lightning rod for wider discontent. Whilst the street tree situation has been in part resolved, there are emerging and current threats to ancient woodlands. The outcome of nearly ten years of troubles has been a degree of resolution and a set of lessons to be learnt and applied more widely. 

Our speakers 

Sybille Raphael is Protect’s legal director, an experienced employment solicitor and a compelling speaker. She is a leading whistleblowing lawyer working alongside both employers and whistleblowers. At Protect, she co-directs the charity’s legal case work, and impressive policy work. She has in-depth knowledge of the law and the practical realities of whistleblowing. She has spearheaded several legal interventions at the Court of Appeal and Employment Appeal Tribunal levels. She also has wide-ranging expertise in helping organisations improve their whistleblowing arrangements and ‘speak up’ culture. Sybille believes that collaborative, transparent, and safe workplaces make excellent business sense, and that freedom of expression is the bedrock of the rule of law and democracy.  

Protect is the UK’s whistleblowing charity and is a leading authority on whistleblowing in the UK. It was established as a charity in 1993 and has, to date, individually advised more than 45,000 whistleblowers and helped hundreds of organisations. It regularly provides evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees and government departments. It has successfully intervened in numerous important appellate cases involving the interpretation, scope and application of whistleblowing legislation. It has unparalleled insight and unique expertise in how whistleblowing works in practice. 

Ian Rotherham is Emeritus Professor at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, having worked at the university for nearly 30 years and formerly head of ecological services for Sheffield City Council. He is editor of the Arboricultural Journal and author / editor of numerous journal papers, books, and popular articles. He works widely with media and has a popular blog, website, and twitter page.