I began my career as an environmental scientist. I have a BA, MRes and PhD in Ecology. From working with bird-watchers, to running a large-scale coastal citizen science project, I've become fascinated by the relationship with people and the environment. I'm really interested in how science is created, understood and used, and how these processes affect our perception and relationship with the natural world.

My Fellowship was about citizen science projects where members of the public contribute to scientific research. My Fellowship was a fulcrum of my career, from being a pure scientist to someone who now specialises in socio-environmental systems.

I travelled around the USA and Europe to talk to people involved in citizen science projects, and discover how we can design our science to maximise the benefit to the volunteers. I now use this knowledge to support others, providing citizen science project support through my consultancy, and I'm a Chair of the British Ecological Society Citizen Science Group.

My Fellowship helped myself and others to understand how we can do better science through engaging with people, and how science can benefit communities.