Students

Jonathan Growcott

Background: MBiol Biological Sciences.

PhD Research: 'Multimodal monitoring or large African carnivores.'

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Benno Simmons, Matthew Wijers (External), Johan Wahlstrom and Richard Everson.

Jonathan's Profile: Jonathan Growcott

Research Interests:

My interests lie in the utilisation of technolgy for ecological and conservation practices. Previously, I completed my MBiol (Hons) in Biosciences at Durham University where I analysed acoustic data collected from autonomous recording units. For my PhD, I am now combining multiple remote data capture technologies (specifically camera traps and autonomous recording units) to automatically monitor species populations in African savannah ecosystems, with a particular focus on lions. This will involve extensive fieldwork and desk-based computational work to develop AI models.

I am co-supervised by the Widlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at University of Oxford and I am also collaborating with NGO Lion Landscapes, Woburn Safari Park, Longleat Safari Park and researchers at the Royal Veterinary College, London. 

You can keep up-to-date with my research here: Twitter

Ashish Sundar

Background: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

PhD Research: Multi-Drone Exploration in 3D Environments

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: Chunbo Luo and Ernesto Schwartz-Marin

Ashish's Profile: Ashish Sundar

Current Research

I’m a first year PhD student working within environmental intelligence. I’m trying to get drones to work with each other using reinforcement learning so that they can map a previously unknown environment efficiently and quickly. I hope to use this in the Amazon rainforest to help the locals there begin an ecotourism project.

I am eager to learn more about reinforcement learning by applying it and am curious to see whether multiple agents operating drones operating in a partially observable environment can learn to communicate and cooperate with one another to accomplish given tasks.

I am also curious to see the potential of bleeding edge technology to improve society and provide a platform for those that need it. In this respect, I want this work to benefit communities and people at the lowest level, rather than doing so for large corporations. However, integrating this level of technology into small communities is challenging as it has the potential to disrupt their society, so I am keen to see how technology of this caliber can be integrated well into small communities.

Trish Nowak

Background: BSc Physical Geography; MSc Ocenaography (Physical, Biological and Ecological)

PhD Research: Entangling curious reasons for long-range travels of coarse dust particles in lower atmosphere and their impacts on climate, environment and human life

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Benno Simmons, Stefan Siegert and Andy Augousti (External)

Trish's Profile: Trish Nowak

My current project focuses on utilising machine learning methods to gain better understanding of environmental processes. This method offers possible clues on causality of processes, rather than just correlation between parameters. In particular my research will focus on a journey of Saharan mineral dust and its further impact on: displacement of West African Monsoon system, biogeochemical cycles and productivity of central Atlantic Ocean, and biogeochemical cycles and the productivity of the Amazon rainforest. For example, the Amazon rainforest's soils are found to be nutrient poor, with no clear sources of essential micro- and macronutrients (phosphorous and iron in particular). Current theory of Saharan mineral dust enriching Amazon rainforest soils is fairly well known. However, annual quantity estimates of transported dust (and thus the nutrients) yield large uncertainties and vary between the studies.

The power of machine learning may provide us with reduced uncertainties, better estimates and perhaps suggest missing links. ML's ability to analyse dozens of parameters over decades of data sets may unveil new or previously overlooked causalities. The possibility of solving a long standing scientific question is what inspires and drives me throughout my research.

Alice Florence Wells

Background: MMath Mathematics

PhD Research: Using effusive and explosive volcanic eruptions as natural analogues for solar radiation management strategies and assessing the public opinion of geoengineering

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Jim Haywood, James Dyke and Daniel Partridge

Alice's Profile: Alice Wells

Postgraduate

My research is looking at using volcanic eruptions as natural analogues for geoengineering. To achieve this I will be using remote sensing techniques and analysing the Met Office's Earth System Model to evaluate model skill.

Past Research

MMath Mathematics, University of Exeter with 1st class honours, 2019.

Thesis title: Investigation of the role of marine organics in cloud droplet formation over the Southern Ocean.

Guy Lomax

Background: BA and MSci Natural Sciences (Geology); MSc Sustianable Energy Futures

PhD Research: Measuring and managing rangeland resilience with remote sensing

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Tom Powell, Tim Lenton, Andrew Cunliffe and Theo Economuo

Guy's Profile: Guy Lomax

Postgraduate Researcher

My PhD research focuses on using satellite remote sensing data for monitoring of land degradation and resilience in rangeland ecosystems, in collaboration with a community conservation organisation in Northern Kenya. 

I began my PhD studies following five years working at The Nature Conservancy on land sector pathways to climate change mitigation (Natural Climate Solutions) including conservation agriculture, agroforestry and sustainable wood products. I am interested in how research can be most effectively used to support environmental policy and practice.

My wider research interests include:

• Remote sensing for real-time monitoring and management of ecosystems
• Nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation
• The role of carbon dioxide removal in climate change mitigation
• Building sustainable food systems in a world of growing demands for food and energy

Kevin Donkers

Background: MSci Chemical Physics

PhD Research: Can agroforestry be utilised at scale to meet climate adaptation and mitigation needs of UK agriculture?

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Brett Day and Danny Williamson.

Kevin's Profile: Kevin Donkers

Kevin is a PhD student at the University of Exeter as part of the UKRI Environmental Intelligence CDT. His research focusses on modelling agroforestry at scale to understand the trade-offs between terrestrial carbon sequestration and food security. 

Keywords: biophysical modelling, land-use modelling, carbon sequestration, climate change mitigation, Bayesian model calibration.

Owain Harris

Background: MPhys Physics.

PhD Research: Reforming Quantitative Indicators of Social Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Introducing Sexuality and Gender Diversity Data, and Democratising Choices in Index Construction

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Ricardo Safra de Campos and Sarah Hartley 

Owain's Profile: Owain Harris

PhD Research

High Impact Weather in the Mid-Latitudes: Developing Machine Learning Methods to Study Tropospheric Dry Intrusions in Extratropical Cyclones. Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Catto and Dr Stefan Siegert.

Past Research

Master's Dissertation: Effect of Differential Rotation on Magnetic Braking of Low-Mass and Solar-Like Stars (2021)

Qualifications 

MPhys Physics, University of Exeter (2017-2021)

Ellie Fox

Background: BA Geography

PhD Research: Impacts of glacier melt on water availability and quality for downstream communities in the Andes: A socio-cryspheric systems approach        

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Steven Palmer, Ernesto Schwartz-Marin and Sally Rangecroft.

Ellie's Profile: Ellie Fox

In 2022, I started my PhD at the University of Exeter. My research is titled ‘Investigating the relationships between mountain cryosphere change and water availability, access and use for communities in the Semi-Arid Chilean Andes’. This project is funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Environmental Intelligence. The research sits at the intersection of glaciology, political ecology, and critical physical geography.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the changing interrelationships between mountain glaciers and society, and the application of interdisciplinary methodologies to study and address changes in these areas. Specifically, my research examines these complex interrelationships in the context of the changes to water availability, access and use in glacier- and rock glacier-fed catchments in the Semi-Arid Chilean Andes.

Prior to beginning my research, I completed a training year as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Environmental Intelligence at the University of Exeter, where I trained in machine learning for earth observation, and studied critical perspectives on the use of big data and machine learning for addressing environmental challenges.

Liam Berrisford

Background: BSc Computer Science. Professional experience as a Software Engineer in Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Counter Terrorism and Security Division)

PhD Research: The structure and dynamics of future transport infrastructure

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Ronaldo Menezes, Hugo Barbosa and Ricardo Safra de Campos

Liam's Profile: Liam Berrisford

Postgraduate Researcher

2019 - Present   Postgraduate Researcher within the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Enviromental Intelligence 

2018-2019         Software Engineer

2015-2018         BSc Computer Science

Research Interests: Sustainable and Resilient Smart Cities, Citizen Science and Human-Computer Interaction

Personal Website for more information: Liam Berrisford

Ellie Duncan

Background: BSc Mathematics; MSc Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate

PhD Research: Untangling natural aerosol processes in Polar Regions by implementing novel machine learning techniques

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Daniel Partridge, Jonathan Fieldsend, Jim Haywood and Alistair Sellar (External)

Ellie's Profile: Ellie Duncan 

Postgraduate Researcher

My research focuses on untangling natural aerosol processes in Polar Regions, using machine learning techniques and evaluation of climate models in a Lagrangian framework.

I previously completed a BSc in Mathematics at the University of Exeter and a MSc in Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate at the University of Reading, with a dissertation titled 'Quantifying Aerosol-driven Changes in Cloud Properties in Pollution Tracks'.

Abhi Navaneethanathan

Background: MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics

PhD Research: Developing ML and statistical models to study global particulate organic carbon fluxes through the data fusion of sparse, heterogeneous and in-situ oceanographic observations

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Chunbo Luo, Peter Challenor and Sabina Leonelli

Abhi's Profile: Abhi Navaneethanathan

My PhD research focuses on better understanding the processes that influence the ocean biological carbon pump using in situ particulate organic carbon (POC) flux observations from a variety of instruments. I am interested in how data fusion methods can be used to combine these heterogeneous data sources in order to address their sparsity and biases, and to make more accurate global POC flux estimates than what can be obtained from individual sources. This project is in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre.

I previously completed an MSci in Physics with Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London, with a dissertation titled ‘Modelling diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion‘ with the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies, followed by working for a year as an AI Researcher on NLP applications.

Research Interests

• Data fusion
• Data biases in machine learning (ML)
• ML and statistical hybrid models
• In situ observations and remote sensing
• Modelling ocean particulate organic carbon fluxes
• Explainable AI

Benjamin Fitkov-Norris

Background: BA Biological Sciences

PhD Research: Alternative routes to marine conservation - beyond the protected area paradigm

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Benno Simmons, Jacqueline Christmas, Kristian Metcalfe or Barend van Maanen

Ben's Profile: Ben Fitkov-Norris

Postgraduate Researcher in Environmental Intelligence

I am in my third year on the Environmental Intelligence CDT based at the University of Exeter, following a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford. Having worked on coral reef ecology, I am keen to explore the use of large-scale planetary data in my research.

My current research interests include marine ecology, marine protected area design and marine resource management and I will be working on the application of big data approaches and novel AI solutions to help tackle the environmental challenges surrounding these interests.

Manju Bura

Background: BSc Biomedical Sciences; MSc Climate Change Science and Policy

PhD Research: The social life of heatwaves: A multimodal study of framing of heatwaves

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Ernesto Schwartz-Marin, Chico Camargo and Clare Saunders.

Manju's Profile: Manju Bura

I have a background in climate change science and a critical understanding of the context for action on climate change, having completed a Masters degree in Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of Bristol. My research interests are broad, encompassing the social and epistemic understandings of climate and the environment within various cosmologies.

My PhD research titled 'Social life of heatwaves' focuses on the critical analysis of how extreme weather events, particularly heatwaves are discursively constructed across modern and non-modern ontologies through mass media and lived experiences. To achieve this, I employ interdisciplinary methodologies including machine learning techniques and ethnographic approaches to study the ways in which contemporary meanings of heatwaves are constructed in public discourse. My research draws inspiration from various fields including science and technology studies, political ecology, and computational social sciences. 

Zihao Chen

Background: MSc Urban Informatics, BSc Computer Science

PhD Research: TBC

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: TBC

Timothy Lam

Background: BSc Earth Sciences; MSc Climate Change and Sustainable Development

PhD Research: Quantifying teleconnection pathways leading to Droughts and Wildfires in Indonesian Borneo

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Jennifer Catto, Anna Harper and Rosa Barciela (External)

Timothy's Profile: Timothy Lam

My PhD research seeks to quantify the teleconnections to droughts and fire risks during the dry season in the Borneo region using a causal framework and analysis-ready data from the observations and climate models. It contributes to a GCRF-funded project which investigates the broader causes, impacts and mitigation actions of peat fires in Indonesian Borneo, in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and across the UK.

My areas of interest are as follows:

• Predictions and projections of weather and climate hazards in the Asia-Pacific region on subseasonal to interdecadal timescales
• Open-source software tools for climate research, as a contributor of The Environmental Data Science Book and the Pangeo project, in collaboration with The Alan Turing Institute and Met Office
• Capacity building on climate change adaptation

Nicola Wilson

Background: BSc Geography with Oceanography; MSc Water and Coastal Management

PhD Research: How can digital technologies help upscale and finance blue carbon?

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Chris Laing, Bob Brewin, Rudy Arthur and Sarah Hartley

Nicola's Profile: Nicola Wilson

Postgraduate

I am an interdisciplinary scientist interested in the use of novel technologies and data science to drive system change, improve decision making and inform policy. I particularly enjoy working at the interface of research with policy and business applications. 

My research area is focusing on how novel digital technologies can help upscale and finance blue carbon, with a focus on seagrass. 

Before joining the CDT, I worked for many years in flood and coastal risk management in both public and private sectors, later specialising in coastal adaptation strategies and policy research.

Research interests

• Financing blue carbon
• Satellite applications
• Nature-based solutions
• Digital technologies and innovation
• Socio-ecological interactions
• Systems thinking

Cesar Arturo Angeles Ruiz

Background: BSc Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering; MSc Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology

PhD Research: Incorporating renewable energy in electricity grids

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: James Dyke, James Salter and Sarah Hartley

Cesar's Profile: Cesar Arturo Angeles Ruiz

Tom Hogger Gadsby

Background: BA Philosophy; MA Philosophy

PhD Research: Modelling past, present and potential futures of mobility in Mexico City

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Ernesto Schwartz-Marin, Federico Botta and Patricia Murrieta-Flores (External)

Tom's Profile: Tom Hogger Gadsby

Jake Curry

Background: BSc Zoology; MRes Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution

PhD Research: Bringing ‘Big Data’ to conservation; applying computer vision techniques to automate detection and classification in camera trap image data

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Benno Simmons, Sareh Rowlands and Jacqueline Christmas

Jake's Profile: Jake Curry

Frederica Poznansky

Background: BSc Environmental Sciences; MRes Tropical Forest Ecology

PhD Research: Soundscapes in Tropical Landscapes

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Frank van Veen and Saptarshi Das

Frederica's Profile: Frederica Poznansky 

Arthur Vandervoort

Background: BA International Relations

PhD Research: In the wake of disaster: analysing gendered mobility patterns by leveraging mobile phone data, data feminism, and justice

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Sabina Leonelli, Karyn Morrissey and Riccardo di Clemente

Arthur's Profile: Arthur Vandervoort

Rhiannon Grant

Background: BSc Geography; MSc Geography

PhD Research: The Turbidity of European Shelf Seas

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: Ute Schuster, Jerry Blackwood (External), Rudy Arthur and Shaun Rigby (External)

Monty Sant

Background: MChem Chemistry

PhD Research: Ocean abosorption and storage of anthropogenic carbon

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Andrew Watson and Peter Challenor

Monty's Profile: Monty Sant

Elizabeth Galloway

Background: MSci Natural Sciences

PhD Research: Modelling the impacts of tropical storms in the Philippines using statistical and machine learning approaches

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Jennifer Catto and Chunbo Luo

Elizabeth's Profile: Elizabeth Galloway

Emma Bailey

Background: MMath in Mathematics

PhD Research: Tipping Sustainable Change: Social Dynamics and Contagion

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Tim Lenton, Hywel Williams and Catherine Butler

Emma's Profile: Emma Bailey

Ned Westwood

Background: BA International Relations and Politics; MRes Politics

PhD Research: Computer assisted classification of political narratives that impede and promote action on climate change

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Travis Coan, Hywel Williams and Saffron O'Neill

Ned's Profile: Ned Westwood

Emily Robinson

Background: BSc Marine Environmental Science; MRes Geochemistry

PhD Research: Tracking the discourse of transboundary injustices of Net Zero decarbonization strategies

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Sarah Hartley and Chico Camargo

Emily's Profile: Emily Robinson

Ian Burton

Background: LLB Law and Criminology; MA Politics and Contemporary History

PhD Research: The impact of innovation and technology diffusion decarbonisation policy packages on the global economy-energy-environment system

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Jean-Francois Mercure, Femke Nijsse and Sarah Hartley

Ian's Profile: Ian Burton

Joshua Redmond

Background: BSc Politics

PhD Research: Participatory Design for Human Rights Monitoring using Earth Observation Data

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Ernesto Schwartz-Marin, Hugo Barbosa and Ana Beduschi

Joshua's Profile: Joshua Redmond

Daneen Cowling

Background: BSc Geography; MSc by Research Geography

PhD Research: Enhanced erosion and the land-ocean continuum: Assessing the biogeochemical responses to vulnerable landscapes

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Tim Lenton, Ute Schuster and Jacqueline Christmas

Daneen's Profile: Daneen Cowling

My research interests include Earth System Resilience, Ecosystem Resilience and the Carbonate-Silicate Geochemical Cycle. My research also contributes to the RENEW project. 

I also have interests in Science Communication and Education. I have co-created and co-faciliated on several of the University of Exeter Climate Change online courses, led Climate Change engagement events and, written and delivered Climate Change courses for KS3-KS4. 

Alongisde my reserach I am also a Senior Advisor for the Local Nature Recovery Strategy at Natural England. 

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) 1st Class, Geography (2018, University of Exeter)

Dissertation: Exploring the carbonate chemistry from contrasting coastal geologies to identify a localised Ocean Acidifcation buffer

MSc by Research, Geography (2020, University of Exeter)

Thesis: Modelling the effect of different carbonate weathering rates on Earth system resilience

Margaret Bolton

Background: BSc Ecology; MSc Applied Ecology

PhD Research: Inter-comparability and consistency of ecological fitness proxies across populations

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Regan Early, Sabina Leonelli and Bram Kuijper

Chris Kerry

Background: BSc Physical Geography, MSc Biodiversity and Conservation

PhD Research: Enforcement, remote sensing, and data science for effective illegal fishing deterrence

Cohort: 1 (2019)

Supervisors: Kristian Metcalfe, Saptarshi Das, Karyn Morrissey, Sam Weber and Tom Letessier (External)

Chris's Profile: Chris Kerry

Chris's Publications: Chris Kerry Publications

Research Interests

I am a marine conservation scientist with my research mainly focussed on investigating methods of tracking global fishing activity to monitor ecological impacts. I am interested in how remote sensing and data science can be used to inform ocean management and have also been involved in the satellite tracking of basking sharks and tuna in UK waters and creating quantitative assessments of ocean health. 

Sara Sjosten

Background: BA Natural Sciences; MSc Geological Sciences

PhD Research: How can drastic changes in the Earth system in deep time help us understand how current ecosystems may respond to further human perturbation? How much more human disturbance can ecosystems tolerate before they collapse?

Cohort: 2 (2020)

Supervisors: Tim Lenton and Peter Roopnarine (External)

Sara's Profile: Sara Sjosten

Current Research

My PhD research concerns ancient ecosystems and the feedbacks between their biotic and abiotic components which have driven the long-term evolution of the Earth system. I use biogeochemical models of the ocean and atmosphere in combination with ecophysiological modeling of past organisms and ecological community dynamics to consider how life has shaped the Earth system and how that holistic system can be stabilized or destabilized.  

Past Research

MSci Geological Sciences, University of Cambridge. Thesis: Trilobite Diversity and Disparity through the Phanerozoic.  

Alina McGregor

Background: BA Sociology and Anthropolgy; MSc Global Sustainable Solutions

Francisco Gonzalez

Background: MSc Applied GIS and Remote Sensing; MPhil Mathematics

Morgan Sparey

Background: Natural Sciences integrated MSc

PhD Research: Modelling Clouds with ML: Open-Source Modelling for Accurate Climate Prediction

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: Mark Williamson, Cyril Morcrette, Stefan Siegert and Peter Cox

Morgan's Profile: Morgan Sparey

Paul Bell

Background: MSci Physics

PhD Research: TBC

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: TBC

Paul's Profile: Paul Bell

I'm Paul, though I often go by Pasha. I'm in my first year of my PhD in Mathematics. I'm aligned with the Environmental Integelligence CDT and iCASE funded by IBM Research.

My pronouns are they/them and I identify as a subjective Bayesian statistician. I'm also non-binary.

My current project title is "Bayesian Methods For Climate Impact Uncertainty Quantification".

My research interests are:

• Bayesian statistics.
• Uncertainty quantification for linked models.
• Downscaling of climate models.
• Impact modelling.

If you're also interested in any of the above, please drop me an email! I'm still finding my feet so I'm not a wealth of knowledge, but I really enjoy chatting to folk about research.

Nathanael Sheehan

Background: BSc Computer Science and Mandarin; MSc Smart Cities and Urban Analytics

PhD Research: The Epistemic Consequences of Open Data and Software: A practice based study

Cohort: 3 (2021)

Supervisors: Sabina Leonelli and Federico Botta

Nathanael's Profile: Nathanael Sheehan

Brianna Pickstone

Background: BSc Marine Biology and Ecology

Alex Edwards

Background: MSc Climate Change and Environmental Policy, BSc Conservation Biology

PhD Research: Demand for Climate Justice

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: Femke Nijsse, Karen Bickerstaff and Paul Brockway (External)

Tatiana Cantillo

Background: Bachelor in Electrical Engineering; Bachelor in Economics; MSc Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment

Quddus Busari

Background: MSc Applied GIS and Remote Sensing; MPhil Mathematics

Ceren Barlas

Background: MSc in Environmental Health, BSc in Biology & Computer Science

PhD Research: An Index for Climate Change Adaptation in the UK

Cohort: 4 (2022)

Supervisors: Mark Kelson, James Salter and Gavin Shaddick (External)

Ceren's Profile: Ceren Barlas

Joshua Dare-Cullen

Background: BSc Computer Science; MSc Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Systems

Will Ward

Background: BSc Geography

Will Rees

Background: BA Geography; MSc Climate Change

Andrew Houldcroft

Background: BSc Biology; MSc Conservation and Biodiversity

Catie Johnstone

Background: MA Philosophy; MSc Psychological Research Methods

Ross Gardiner

Victoria Morton-Thurtle

Background: MPhys Theoretical Physics

Chanon Olley

Background: MMath in Mathematics

Simon Puttock

Background: BSc Computer Science