Emily is an ecologist, exploring the biodiversity and ecosystem function outcomes of nature-based solutions projects, with a particular focus on native woodland expansion in the UK. She is collaborating with Trees for Life, Highlands Rewilding, and The Carbon Community to explore above/below-ground biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to different woodland creation methods. Emily often explores trends in biodiversity/ecosystem function responses using data collection across natural gradients and within existing conservation projects, complemented by experimental work to investigate underlying mechanisms in more detail. She also has an interest in integrating effective ecological monitoring into conservation projects, co-developing a tool for selecting metrics to monitor biodiversity and soil health outcomes in nature-based solutions projects, as part of the Agile Initiative sprint “How do we scale up nature-based solutions in the UK?”.
Department/Institute: Biology
I am interested in evaluating the relative importance of volatile organic compounds released by the plants in the Oxford Botanic Gardens glasshouses upon health and wellbeing outcomes. Early research suggests that biogenic VOCs, including pinene and limonene, make us feel physiologically and psychologically more relaxed. There are gaps in our knowledge, as to whether these biogenic volatile organic compounds induce relaxation within urban green spaces.
I am a conservation scientist interested in how we can improve the uptake, effectiveness and efficiency of biodiversity conservation actions, to ensure they are delivering the conservation gains required to address the biodiversity crisis. My research has focussed in two major areas to present: 1) understanding how we can better engage, and improve the outcomes from private sector biodiversity management; and 2) how we can collect and better use evidence to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of actions to protect and restore biodiversity. My current role looks at the actions needed across the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy to reach global biodiversity goals, with a particular focus on the approaches taken by businesses to measure, avoid, reduce and compensate for their impacts. The research forms part of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery as part of the Integration work package.
I work on the nature-positive tools needed to measure biodiversity footprints and plot a path towards worldwide ecological recovery. This involves collaborating with organisations to quantify their environmental and biodiversity impacts and identify how these could be mitigated through institutional change and conservation action.
My research involves the development and application of environmental and climate models to report the impacts (positive or negative) of different land managements and greenhouse gas emission pathways. As part of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, I am particularly interested in linking carbon removal interventions with improved indicators of biodiversity and ecological functioning.
My DPhil research concerns the application of artificial intelligence to forest management within England’s Public Forest Estate.
I aim to identify the configuration of management decisions that optimises the capacity of woodlands to prevent floods and improve human health and well-being.
I am interested in the scientific underpinning of practical and policy solutions to problems in wildlife conservation. Although my background is in the behavioural ecology of mammals, my research currently spans taxa ranging from mammals to moths, and is inter-disciplinary (including teams involving environmental economics and the social sciences). Much of my research is stimulated by conflict between people and wildlife, whether it be through predation, infectious disease or invasive species.
I am an ecological economist specialising in biodiversity finance, nature-positive organisations, infrastructure sustainability, sustainable finance, biodiversity offsetting and ecological economics. My academic research features regularly in popular media including the Guardian, BBC Countryfile, the Times, Sky News, the Financial Times and the ENDS report. I currently hold three ongoing expert advisory roles for the UK government: on Natural England’s Biodiversity Net Gain Monitoring and Evaluation expert advisory group; the UK Treasury’s Biodiversity Economics working group; and I am an expert advisor to the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. I was an expert contributor to the 2022 UK Environmental Audit Committee report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems, the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology POSTBrief on ‘Biodiversity Net Gain’, and POSTnotes on biodiversity offsetting and just sustainability transitions. I also work as a freelance consultant, including hosting seminars and advising multilateral development institutions and companies on biodiversity net gain, biodiversity offset policy, nature-positive strategy and biodiversity safeguards. I lecture on Masters programmes at the University of Oxford, Surrey, and Imperial as well as Oxford University executive education and school access programmes, and co-supervise 5 PhD and Masters researchers. I’m co-host of the European Society for Ecological Economics podcast “Economics for Rebels”. I was named as one of the 100 most influential environmental professionals in the UK by newspaper the ENDS Report in 2022, and won the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council’s early career policy impact award in 2023.
My Postdoc is funded by EU Horizon 2020 project “SUPERB”, focusing on understanding and evaluating the mechanisms for financing the restoration of ecosystems across Europe. I also assist the biodiversity and scenario modelling work packages for the Agile Sprint project: Operationalising Treasury Green Book Guidance on biodiversity.