Michael Russell Wheldon Rands (born 2 August 1956) is a British conservation biologist.
He gained his doctorate in ecology at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Department of Zoology and Wolfson College, Oxford.
After his DPhil, Rands carried out post-doctoral research with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, conducting field experiments that helped establish the Conservation headland as a method for increasing wildlife populations in agricultural ecosystems, a practice that became enshrined in UK and EU legislation and policy.
He became director of strategic planning and policy at BirdLife International in 1994 before becoming its chief executive from 1996 to 2009.
[11] In 2021, the University of East Anglia announced that he would receive an Honorary Doctorate in Science in July 2022.