Jude has worked at the Staffordshire County Museum at Shugborough and the Urban Forestry Unit in the Black Country and nationally. She moved to the Green Wood Trust in Coalbrookdale to promote coppicing and woodland trades and went on to manage Small Woods Association until her retirement in 2013. She is a member of the Coracle Society and has helped to set up the Ironbridge Coracle Trust to increase understanding of the traditions of coracle building on the Severn. She has a particular interest in the rotational coppice management of ancient woodlands, and its associated trades.

Her interest in the West Midlands Committee was inspired by a desire to see wider use of HLF grants to support and enhance the natural heritage and landscape of the West Midlands.