In 2019 I founded my own research consultancy. Wolds Environmental Consulting Ltd, which I run as both Director and Senior Consultant. In addition I have a part-time role in IECS Ltd as a Senior Research Associate.Through Wolds Environmental Consulting my focus is on delivering high quality applied environmental research and support across coastal and marine waters. Working as a sole contractor, or in close collaboration with other local environmental consultants, my recent work has included projects with:- AFBI (an assessment of marine natural capital benefits in Northern Irish waters);- APEM Ltd (support on delivering HABSCORE assessments);- EC/JRC (risk-based approaches to support MSFD monitoring);- Environment Agency (advising on the re-development of the HABSCORE salmonid modelling routines in a novel, ORACLE-based environment);- Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (the development of a regionally-specific causal loop network based on the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework);- JNCC (a streamlined approach to marine ecosystem health assessment);- MMO (Suffolk Marine Pioneer project, development of analysis/visualisation tools to support stakeholder workshops in examining the local beneficiaries of ecosystem goods and benefits derived from natural capital resources identified through stakeholder workshop discussions);- Natural England (a proof of concept study to assess the potential for linking generic marine activities to potential impacts on GES);- Ørsted (Annex 1 habitat compensation for offshore wind farms); and- Yorkshire Marine Nature Partnership (a study to examine the feasibility of applying a natural capital approach to the Yorkshire coast).In addition, through my role as a Senior Research Associate with IECS Ltd, I currently have an ongoing involvement across four major Horizon Europe projects:- GES4SEAS,- MarinePlan,- MARBEFES, and- MarineSABRES.

In addition to working as Director and Principal Consultant at my own company, I have also taken up a part-time position as a Senior Research Associate with IECS Ltd, providing ongoing input and active involvement to IECS' role as a UK partner across four major pan-European projects, funded by the Horizon Europe programme:- GES4SEAS,- MarinePlan,- MARBEFES, and- MarineSABRES.

Working on marine/coastal policy development, marine spatial planning and MPA/MCZ-related tenders/contracts at IECS, within the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Hull,specialising in a range of complementary and inter-related topics including:- marine policy;- Marine Protected Area designation and assessment;- understanding pressures and impacts from marine activities;- developing decision support frameworks and assessment tools (including understanding approaches for applying aggregation methods when undertaking marine biodiversity status assessments, development of the SPIDA tool to assess oil & gas infrastructure decommissioning options); and- stakeholder engagement (including workshop design and facilitation).

Pivotal role in groundbreaking project to develop marine protected areas within the English North Sea and along the east coast of England. the project, which is focused on triple-bottom-line performance, places commercial and recreational users of the marine environment at the heart of the conservation planning process, making stakeholder liaison central to its success.

My role at Golder included- Development and directing of fieldwork programs and compilation of baseline reports covering the fisheries/aquatic component supporting EIA submissions for northern Albertan (Canadian) Oil Sands’ projects,- Development of detailed monitoring plans for a major wetland habitat compensation project in northern Alberta, along with an associated macrophyte rehabilitation scheme;- Directing the annual environmental assessment reporting for Diavik’s diamond mining operations at Lac de Gras (in the Canadian North-West Territories).

Fisheries strategy & policy development for EA Wales together with subsequent integration into operational practices. Close collaboration with, and support to, the Welsh Assembly Government providing technical advice and ministerial briefings on an as-needed basis.Co-authorship of the Agency`s sea trout and salmon management strategy and key member of several national advisory, technical and project groups within the EA.Development and implementation of legislation to improve salmon & sea trout management across Wales (requiring close collaboration with legal advisors, extensive data analysis, public consultation, media interviews and government liaison).

Development of field practices and supporting software for the HABSCORE salmonid habitat assessment system.Planning, implementation & reporting of extensive field-based studies to assess impacts of stocked trout on native fish populations and to determine optimum stocking strategies for riverine coarse fish.Practical experience of extensive in-situ deployments to underpin ecotoxicology studies and in the coordination of sampling strategies.