Meet our team of fantastic Rivers Trust Ambassadors
Our Rivers Trust Ambassadors are people who are just as passionate about rivers as we are. They use their voices to speak up for our shared dream of wild, healthy, natural freshwater habitats.
We are delighted to be working with a range of brilliant individuals who are passionate about working to restore rivers to a healthy, natural and wild state for wildlife and communities. Scroll down to learn more about the River Ambassadors that have joined The Rivers Trust team.
Lara Maiklem
Lara Maiklem (aka The London Mudlark) is an author and mudlark. Scouring the Thames foreshore for forgotten treasures, she connects audiences with our rivers and our history, highlighting the items that she finds in her books, articles and social media content. She elegantly pulls the threads of history and culture and shows us how rivers link us to the people of the past who also needed, loved, and used our enduring waterways
"I grew up playing in rivers, making rafts with my cousins and dabbling in the stream at the bottom of the garden. I fished for minnows and dragon fly nymphs and sometimes, if I was lucky, I saw the electric blue flash of a kingfisher or a water vole pushing through the water at dusk. When I left home, wherever I was, I searched out a river to soothe my soul, and when I moved to London the Thames became my secret solitude, a friendly space in a city of chaos.
"There's something about rivers that calls us to them. In the countryside, as well as in towns, they are a life-giving oasis of calm. We need them and now, more than ever, they need us, which is why I’m so excited to be working with The Rivers Trust, campaigning for our blue spaces so that we can all continue to enjoy our wonderful, magical rivers."
Img:Tom Harrison
Will Millard
Will Millard is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and keen angler. He has travelled the world making and presenting TV programs about the natural environment, remote communities, and fish, and his recent books include The Old Man and the Sand Eel, The Way of the Hermit, and Kingdom.
"I grew up on a little river in the Norfolk Fens and my whole life has been orientated towards them. I have always instinctively known that I’m at my happiest whenever I’m by rivers - they run right through my soul and they run right through the heart of what it means to be a human too. Our ancestors used rivers to navigate, hunt and drink. We built our communities beside them and spread our species across the globe because of them. They are vital for all life – but recently we have lost sight of quite how important they really are. That’s why I’m so proud to be an Ambassador for The Rivers Trust. This brilliant charity supports the many brilliant Rivers Trusts working hard right across the UK and Ireland. Together, they are restoring river catchments and getting us all back to where we truly belong: by the edges of the clean, flourishing, healthy waterways we all should love."
Img:Joel Rees-Jones
Dr Imogen Grant MBE
Imogen is an athlete passionate about sustainability, especially when it comes to the water she rows on. She is a current double World and European Champion rower in the lightweight double for Great Britain, a Toyko Olympian, and is preparing for the Paris Olympics. She recently graduated as a doctor from the University of Cambridge, where she learned to row.
"Water is integral to what I do every single day, whether it's a river to walk along and admire or somewhere to train and race. I have seen first hand the impacts of polluted water - rowing past floating fridges worrying they would put holes in my boat, and spending days sick with a stomach bug I picked up during a Tideway head. Conversely, the magic of sculling next to a seal is not one I will forget any time soon! I support The Rivers Trust to help conserve those magical moments for future generations, cleaning rivers and monitoring wildlife"
Al Humphreys
Alastair Humphreys is a British Adventurer and Author. He has been on expeditions all around the world, travelling through over 80 countries by bicycle, boat and on foot and named one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the year in 2012. His big adventures on rivers include paddling the Yukon River, pack-rafting Iceland's Þjórsá River and walking the holy Kaveri River in India. In the past ten years, he has concentrated on microadventures – the shorter, more accessible adventures that can be had much closer to home.
"I've loved rivers ever since I was a little kid, playing in the stream in the village where I grew up. Today rivers bring me joy and peace in the crowded, noisy and traffic-filled corner of the country that I live in. I'm excited to be an ambassador for The Rivers Trust to try to encourage more people to get out and enjoy their local rivers, but vitally also to get involved in campaigning to clean them up, to look after them, and to protect our rivers."
Img:Chris Herwig
Dr Amir Khan
Dr Amir Khan is an NHS GP, best-selling author and broadcaster (you may recognize him from his time on Good Morning Britain and Lorraine). He's also passionate about wildlife, and believes in the power of restoring nature and being able to access thriving natural spaces for our mental and physical wellbeing.
"I'm super excited that I'm going to be an ambassador for the Rivers Trust. They do incredible work, trying to keep our rivers health and the ecosystems within and around them alive and thriving, and we all know what a challenging time for Rivers it is right now. With 0% of England's and Northern Ireland's rivers being considered in good health, they are fighting the good fight, and I am proud to join them. I'm a firm believer that accessing thriving nature spaces, including our rivers, is key to our good mental and physical well being, and our rivers are vital to that. So, I couldn't be more excited to be joining the Rivers Trust as their newest ambassador."
Prof Alice Roberts
Alice is fascinated by human biology and history - and although these are often considered to be separate subjects, they are intertwined and inseparable. She originally trained as a doctor, but left surgery behind to become a university academic - teaching clinical anatomy to students and doctors, and researching human origins and disease in ancient bones. She has presented more than a hundred television documentaries, ranging across human biology, history and archaeology, including a series called Wild Swimming with Alice Roberts, which follows in the wake of Waterlog, by author Roger Deakin.
“I love wild swimming but I’m doing it less and less - the risk of getting ill is simply too high. And that pollution is bad news for wildlife too. Rivers are such an important part of the natural environment, and we clearly need to do more to reduce the negative impact we’re having on so many other species. That’s why I support the Rivers Trust - who do great work cleaning rivers, restoring wetlands and planting trees on riverbanks, as well as collecting important data on water quality and wildlife, and raising awareness of the need for healthy, natural rivers. Our rivers need us!"
Scout
Scout is our first virtual ambassador! She is a children's book character who is passionate about the environment helps school-age kids to learn about the natural world, as well as how they can help improve or conserve it.
"I’m super excited to be a Rivers Trust Ambassador to help promote protecting our waterways. I really enjoy litter picking and I hope to inspire other children to learn more about our rivers and maybe they’d like to help me look after them. Since I found out that if litter goes down a drain it can end up in our rivers and then out to the sea, it made me realise I could actually help reduce this impact. So I decided to pick up litter when I go on walks with my parents and I am learning so much about rivers and all of the wildlife they provide a habitat for."
Manchán Magan (1970-2025)
Manchán was our first ambassador for All-Ireland. He wrote occasionally for The Irish Times, presented the Almanac of Ireland podcast for RTÉ, and made dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ, & Travel Channel. His books include Thirty-Two Words For Field, Listen to the Land Speak, Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Words For Nature, and Wolf-Men and Water Hounds. He was on the board of Hometree, a native woodland charity, and Common Knowledge, a non-profit social enterprise devoted to teaching skills in building, making, mending and growing. We are deeply saddened by his passing in October 2025.
About joining The Rivers Trust team, he said, "Rivers are the lifeblood of our world. It is no wonder that our forebears regarded so many of them as goddesses. They are the magical beings that animate the earth - ensuring its vibrancy and fertility. In my work with Irish mythology I find myself constantly lead by story, folklore, and language to the preeminence of rivers in the lives of our ancestors. We are in danger of losing touch with these wonderful flowing deities of life. I am so grateful for the work the Rivers Trust does in reminding us that we are all custodians of the land's water sources and it is for this reason that I am honoured to be an ambassador."