UKEOF has a small Secretariat, hosted by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). The team comprises a Programme Manager/Team Leader, a Programme Coordinator, a Communications Lead/Webmaster and Secretariat Leads and Supports for the UKEOF Working Groups.
Don Monteith |
Programme Manager & Secretariat Team Leader Don coordinates the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) and UK Upland Waters Network (UWMN). He has over 20 years’ experience in long-term environmental monitoring, survey and assessment of the ecological health of semi-natural ecosystems. His research has focussed on the causes and consequences of long-term environmental change, particularly with respect to the impacts of air pollution, climate change and land use on the biogeochemistry and ecology of upland lakes and streams and their catchments. |
Tom Bell |
Secretariat Support for Natural Capital and Earth Observation Cal/Val WGs Tom is a Senior Science Support Administrator at UKCEH, currently supporting Land Use, Plant Soil Interactions, and Lake Ecosystems. They also support projects including CEEDS (Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science), the Countryside Survey, and ACCESS-UK, bringing organisation skills to help with national scale events, meetings, and logistics. |
Alice Fitch |
Secretariat Lead for Earth Observation Cal/Val WG Alice is an environmental modeller and geospatial analyst at UKCEH. Currently, her research focuses on modelling the impact and trade-offs of land use change on ecosystem services, with a particularly focus on urban environments and nature based solutions. Having a keen interest in earth observation data, Alice is involved in coordinating remote sensing activities within UKCEH to support remote sensing users across the organisation. |
Lisa Norton |
Secretariat Lead for Natural Capital WG As a plant / landscape ecologist, Lisa has led and been involved with the UK Countryside Survey, a national survey incorporating habitats, landscape features, vegetation, soils and water, for almost 20 years. Her research focuses on monitoring and management of natural capital for ecosystem service (ES) delivery. |
Michael Pocock |
Secretariat Lead for Citizen Science WG Michael is an ecologist at UKCEH, working in the Biological Records Centre. He runs citizen science activities (engaging thousands of people), uses volunteer-collected data for research, and supports best practice in citizen science. He also studies the impacts of environmental change on the networks of interactions between species. |
Dan Read |
Secretariat Lead for UK DNA WG Dan leads the Molecular Ecology research group at UKCEH Wallingford. His research primarily focuses on the application of molecular techniques to describe biodiversity and function in aquatic ecosystems. He has worked on projects for the Environment Agency (EA) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques for the assessment of lake fish, as well as leading research into the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in freshwater ecosystems. |
Jo Savage |
Programme Coordinator Jo is a field ecologist at UKCEH. Her research focuses on enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery in agricultural and grassland ecosystems. She is also interested in projects that encourage stakeholders across all communities to work together for the benefit of the natural environment. |
Andy Sier |
Communications Lead / Webmaster As a content creator, Andy's role in UKCEH is primarily to provide visual design and website management support for a wide range of projects and initiatives. He has worked on the communications activities of a wide range of projects and international networks concerned with environmental observation, including the UK Environmental Change Network. |
Gayatri Suman |
Secretariat Support for Data Advisory Group Gayatri is a Hydrological Data scientist at UKCEH where she supports the acquisition, quality control and dissemination processes for the UK National River Flow Archive (NRFA), the UK's focal point for hydrometric data. She is also responsible for the processing and quality control of incoming river flow submissions from the UK Hydrometric Measuring Authorities at the national scale. Gayatri is a postgraduate in water and environmental engineering with merit and has a Masters degree in Geosciences with distinction. |
Aoife Sweeney |
Secretariat Support for Citizen Science WG Aoife is a Project Support Officer at UKCEH where she works on projects that develop technology for biodiversity monitoring, including InsectAI COSTAction and AgZero+. She also supports the GB Non-Native Species Information Portal (GBNNSIP) and Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) inventories for the UK Overseas Territories. |
Stephen Turner |
Secretariat Lead for Data Advisory Group Stephen is a hydrologist at UKCEH and works on the National River Flow Archive. He is involved in all aspects of the data cycle including data acquisition, quality control and dissemination, with a focus on improvements to data and metadata quality and completeness. |
(Last revised 12 July 2024)
Working Group leads and supports
Citizen Science Working Group
Secretariat Lead: Michael Pocock
Secretariat Support: Aoife Sweeney
Data Advisory Group
Secretariat Lead: Stephen Turner
Secretariat Support: Gayatri Suman
DNA Working Group
Secretariat Lead: Dan Read
Earth Observation Calibration and Validation Working Group
Secretariat Lead: Alice Fitch
Secretariat Support: Tom Bell
Natural Capital Working Group
Secretariat Lead: Lisa Norton
Secretariat Support: Tom Bell