Journalist, Author, Ethnobotanist

Susanne Masters is an ethnobotanist and author who has appeared in National Geographic and The New York Times who hunts orchids in places ranging from high altitude wilderness to city markets in Bhutan, China, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Her conservation fieldwork also explores the cooler climates of Scottish highlands and islands, loughs and mountains of Ireland, and Iceland. Susanne's PhD research is on wildlife trade. In features she has written for the Royal Horticultural Society she connects landscapes and wildlife with human culture.

As an expert for National Geographic Expeditions, Susanne has introduced guests to plants and human connections to them in destinations including Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Switzerland and Patagonia. Author of Wild Waters on aquatic wildlife in Britain and Ireland, Susanne’s upcoming books include Juniper covering the ecology, ethnobotany and conservation of Juniperus species, and Destinations in Bloom on cultural meanings of flowers around the world. Half Swiss and a bit British and Irish, Susanne went to school in England, Switzerland and the Australian Outback, and also lived in Italy. She swims outdoors year-round, relishing kelp beds in the Atlantic Ocean off St Kilda and winter swimming festivals in China.