Mairi Stewart graduated in Geography from Glasgow University. After spending ten years working in conservation and land management, her interest in woodland history led her to undertake an MPhil at the University of St Andrews. She subsequently worked as a project officer at the Centre for Environmental History at the University of Stirling and as a research fellow at UHI Centre for History. She is currently a freelance historical researcher specialising in environmental history. She is co-author of The Firth of Forth: an Environmental History.