Landscape Ecology UK Bunce Lecture 2026 - Frans Vera: "The wilderness, it is staring us in the face, and yet we do not see it"

Landscape Ecology UK organises the annual Bunce Lecture in honour of the late Bob Bunce, celebrating influential thinkers whose work has transformed our understanding of landscapes and ecology. The lecture provides an opportunity to learn from and engage with leading voices shaping the future of environmental research, conservation, and land management.

This year, we are delighted to welcome Frans Vera as our keynote speaker. In his lecture, “The wilderness, it is staring us in the face, and yet we do not see it,” Vera will challenge conventional interpretations of Europe's ecological past and explore how language, history, and cultural assumptions have shaped our understanding of wilderness.

We fail to see it, because of words that trick our imagination regarding the past, because we uncritically project the modern meaning of words, like “forest” onto the past, thereby constructing a completely distorted image of that era. William the Conqueror brought the word "forest" from the European continent to England after seizing the English throne at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He declared areas encompassing trees and woodlands as well as open spaces like grasslands and heath as a “forest”, as his own exclusive hunting ground. Others might use the land; however, he dictated the terms. On the continent the word “forest” dates back to the 7th century from Merovingian kings to signify areas, uncultivated and uninhabited by mankind as forestis nostra ("our forestis") among others with the king's privilege to hunt big game there, like aurochs, red deer, and European bison. This wilderness stares us back in museums, yet we fail to see it, and not just because of the modern of the word "forest" I will demonstrate.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion exploring the implications of these ideas for contemporary landscape ecology, conservation, and rewilding. Panel members will be announced in due course.

Register here:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4ac3714f-d933-4bf8-9595-ca45af1e4b83@1b923567-07bd-4ac1-85f2-45eda26d837c

The symposium will be followed by the Landscape Ecology UK Annual Meeting (16:30-17:00).