If forced to pigeon-hole myself into an academic discipline, I’ll choose Conservation Ecologist. The majority of my research to date has focused on exploring changes in the ecology of peatland ecosystems around the world and on how people are interacting with them.

I was hugely fortunate to grow up on a noisy smallholding in the muddy depths of the New Forest, which likely goes some way to explaining my career pathway. Like many people, I don’t really like it when we cut forests down. But through being exposed to different environments, communities, circumstances (some insights I’ve recorded here), and inspiring teachers over the last …some years, I’ve learnt to appreciate that there are many reasons why forests must fall. Although ‘must’ is often a prerogative, not an absolute necessity, the thoughts and feelings behind the chainsaw are the key factors that need to be considered if deforestation is to be understood and managed. One of my favourite quotes is that “conservation is the management of human behaviour” (Chan, 2008).

Until 2013, I was based at the University of Oxford, transitioning from MSc. to PhD to postdoc. Then I played the role of Dr Satellite Swampy (Peat Subject Matter Expert) for Rezatec Ltd. working on a feasibility project funded by the ESA, amongst other ‘applied’ fun. After that, I ventured north to the University of Liverpool, to work on a project to enhance ecological connectivity for key species in tropical landscapes via a web-based decision support tool, Condatis.  And now, the playbus has parked at St Andrews. I moved here in 2019 to work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ecology, in an interdisciplinary team, on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project with the goal of valuing intact tropical peatlands in the Peruvian Amazon. In 2021, I got a fixed-term Education-focused Lecturer gig. And then, by some incredible twist of fate, got a permanent Lectureship, with the task of co-designing and co-delivering a digital Masters in Data Literacy for Social and Environmental Justice. Funny how things turn out.

My University profile or LinkedIn pages will (hopefully!) be up-to-date with my past and current projects. I also tweet a bit. And love to run in beautiful places, and to draw them. If something I muse about interests you, I’ve included some info on how you can get muddy. And here are some of my top sources of inspiration:

• Sir David Attenborough
• My Mum’s work and local project
• One of the great many great projects belonging to my Dad
• Jane Goodall and her wise solution to the challenges she sees to environmental stewardship today
• The words twittered out by Rob Macfarlane
• Face Equality International, founded by the incredibly inspiring James Partridge OBE
• The International Peatland Society, for their passion to promote responsible peatland management amongst the peat extraction/use industries
• Conservation Bytes – candid, and refreshing words from the pragmatic conservation scientist, Corey Bradshaw
• Project Awesome – this used to get me up and on my bike, three times a week, come rain or shine, before 6am, sometimes in a zebra outfit….without any sign of a grumble – join the inspiring crew in London and Liverpool!