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    We Solve Invasive Plant Problems

  • Advanced Invasives is the leading invasive plant species consultancy

    Based in South Wales (UK), Advanced Invasives was founded in 2016 by Dr Dan Jones from Swansea University’s Department of Biosciences out of a desire to set a new standard of evidence-led invasive species management.

     

    We help goverments, legal firms, large landowners, private companies and global leaders in weed control technologies to resolve the complex technical, legal and public relations challenges presented by Japanese Knotweed and other invasive plants.

     

    We work across six key areas with our clients: expert witness, research and product testing, best practice strategy, complex ecological projects, continuing professional development (CPD) and public guidance services.

     

    Our projects range in size from expert witness instructions focussing on individual properties, through to treatment strategies for landowners with nationwide land portfolios and significant public exposure.

     

    Project-by-project we are setting a new standard in the industry; thinking that is scientifically credible, environmentally sound, and above all cost effective.

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  • EXPERT WITNESS

    Dr Dan Jones (PhD, MSc, BSc, MA, MEWI Cert) is Managing Director at Advanced Invasives and an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Biosciences at Swansea University. Dan has provided oral and written evidence to House of Commons Committees, produced government reports and delivered best practice guidance and evidence-based invasive plant solutions for a wide range of stakeholders.

     

    As a full Member of The Academy and a Certified Expert Witness, Dan undertakes expert witness instructions, including the preparation of expert reports and giving evidence in court, in cases relating to his specialist areas of expertise. These include:

    • International expert on key invasive plants, including Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam and Giant Hogweed
    • Invasive plant survey, identification, mapping and evaluating routes of spread and dispersal
    • Control and management and remediation (eradication) treatments – including independent audit and appraisal of management actions
    • Assessment of Japanese Knotweed growth and spread with relative age assessment – relevant for establishing liability in civil claims

    Instructions can be undertaken on behalf of either claimant or defendant or as a Single Joint Expert.

  • RESEARCH CAPACITY

    In 2023 we completed the world's largest and longest running field-trial on Japanese Knotweed control. Our initial findings were published in 2018 in the journal Biological Invasions, setting a new standard for peer reviewed, evidence-led invasive plant control.

     

    Following from this work, in 2023 we coauthored an article published in Nature Scientific Reports that assessed the sustainability of the Knotweed control treatments that we tested. This novel approach to sustainability evaluation provides a gold standard against which future weed control methods should be evaluated.

     

    Our unique body of data gives us the capacity to truly redefine invasive plant management best practice and take the long-term view of invasive plant problems. The evidence-based, scientific approach that we have pioneered helps our clients to manage invasive plant problems using less labour, lower doses of herbicide and less carbon across the whole treatment lifecycle - we really can do a lot more with a lot less!

     

    Our full list of government, academic and commercial publications can be found on ResearchGate.

  • CONTACT