Ireland is undergoing a profound shift. Our ecosystems are under pressure and degrading rapidly. As we move toward a low-carbon future, we must not only restore degraded landscapes but we must also ensure the transition is fair, inclusive, and community-led. Every day, people all over the island work hard to halt biodiversity and climate crises and reverse the trend. Women are playing a vital role in this transformation. They are restoring peatlands and wetlands, regenerating farms, protecting rivers, building local initiatives, shaping policy, educating communities, and reimagining what stewardship can look like in a changing Ireland. Many do this work without public recognition, quietly fighting for their environment and community, leading the way in nature restoration and building resilience for the next generation.

This national photography campaign will honour and amplify the work of women in nature restoration in Ireland. The work of the commission will be shared through a free public programme that includes exhibitions, community conversations, and a publication.

Tóchar Women in Nature Jury

Ella McSweeney

Ella McSweeney is an Irish journalist and reporter. She is a science (zoology) graduate from Trinity College, Dublin and holds a Masters in food policy from City University, London. She works across radio, television and print for a variety of broadcasters and publications, including RTE, BBC, The Guardian and the Irish Times, amongst others.

She’s presented a wide range of radio shows for RTE, including Shanks Mare, Documentary on One, Into the Deep, award-winning Mind Matters, Future Tense, Nature’s Web, The Green Light, Farm Week, Countrywide, and she has also guest-presented The Ryan Tubridy Show. For the BBC, she has reported for and presented Farming Today, On Your Farm and The Food Programme on Radio 4, and documentaries for the World Service. She has undertaken in-depth investigations for The Guardian on the meat industry and the use of migrant workers in fisheries.

She has presented RTE’s food and farming television series Ear to the Ground since 2009, as well as other series such as Big Week on the Farm, The Consumer Show and Open for Business.

Shirley Clerkin

Shirley is the project manager of Tóchar, a wetlands restoration scheme in the midlands of Ireland that is co-ordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and funded through the EU Just Transition Fund.

A committed environmental advocate, Shirley has worked for almost thirty years in the biodiversity and heritage arena, and has a passion for weaving creativity into scientific and technical initiatives.

She has produced books, documentaries and short films on heritage themes. She was a member of the board of the all-island Tyrone Guthrie Centre for artists for five years.

Trish Lambe

Trish Lambe is the Artistic Director/CEO at Photo Museum Ireland, Ireland’s national centre for contemporary photography. She leads the artistic programming team and the development of the museum’s collection initiative. She has curated solo and group exhibitions featuring leading Irish and international artists, and programmed national and international commissions, exhibitions, events, and symposia that address key issues in contemporary photography.

Recent projects include a survey of the development of photography in Ireland, co-curated with Photo Museum Ireland’s curatorial team and the co-curation of the award-winning Akihiko Okamura’s ‘The Memories of Others’ exhibition and photo book. She is a nominator, juror, and portfolio reviewer for national and international artists’ awards and commissions, most recently the Deutsche Börse Prize, LSI Women in Photography Grant, Prix Pictet,  Hendrik teNeues Photo Award, Encontros da Imagen, Braga, and the Creative Europe Project Groundswell Awards.