6th UKEOF conference | 24 February 2026 | Online

Title: Sensing the Environment: Emerging Technologies for Monitoring and Decision-Making
When: 24 February 2026, 09:00 - 13:00
Where: Online
Registration fee: FREE - reserve your place here
Social media: #ukeof2026

Introduction

This year's annual UKEOF conference is Sensing the Environment: Emerging Technologies for Monitoring and Decision-Making. The event aims to showcase a diverse range of examples of the application of emerging technologies in environmental monitoring and assessment of interest particularly to environmental policy and academic sectors.

The event will begin with short presentations from representatives of national governments setting out policy perspectives, with speakers including: Professor Anjali Goswami (Defra, Chief Scientific Adviser and Director General for Science, Data and Analysis);  Professor Jas Pal Badyal (Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales in the Welsh Government); Patrick Murphy (Chief Scientific Adviser's Office, Northern Ireland), and Claire Young (Marine Strategy & Catchments, Northern Ireland Environment Agency). There will then follow a series of 15-minute presentations highlighting recent important advances in the development of sensors, sensor networks, molecular techniques and AI systems designed to quantify and track everything from individual species to ecosystems, assess risks to human health and enable early warning capabilities to manage natural resources.  Recurring themes are likely to include approaches to validation, development of common standards, managing and processing large data streams, the development of sensor networks and the importance of ensuring transparency and data accessibility.

In addition to those highlighted above, confirmed speakers (talk titles subject to change) include:

  • Grace Skinner, UKCEH: Machine learning assisted camera trap monitoring of moth populations.
  • Tim Lukins, Forest Research: Assessment of soil mesofaunal diversity using machine learning and novel sensors.          
  • Dr Lia Gilmour Bat Conservation Trust: Monitoring woodland bat populations using acoustic sensors.
  • Lauren James, Breathe London:  An urban low-cost sensor network engaging the community to increase awareness and create local action.      
  • Dr Holly Tipper, UKCEH: Microbial and molecular approaches to assessing environmental health.     
  • Dr Joanne Littlefair,  UCL: Monitoring ecosystem health from eDNA in water and soil. 
  • Dr James Brown, University of Lincoln:  Automated habitat recognition from ground-based photographs to support Biodiversity Net Gain. 
  • Dr Rachel Gaulton, FERA: Ground-based and remote sensor networks for tree health monitoring.
  • Dr Cayelan Carey, Virginia Tech:  Assessing reservoir water quality using real-time lake sensor data. 
     

Free delegate registration is now open.  We recommend subscribing to our mailing list so that we can keep you informed about the event and other UKEOF activities. Alternatively you can follow us on Bluesky or join our group on LinkedIn.

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Registration

Register now to reserve your free place.

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