About

As CABI’s Head of Digital Advisory Tools, I am responsible for ensuring CABI provides farmers, practitioners and policymakers with the digital tools to support evidence-based choices in response to farming and environmental challenges. My interest and expertise lie in working with end users to identify, design and deliver tools that turn high-quality scientific information into accessible and practical advice specific to their situation.

Since joining CABI in 2005, I have worked in a variety of roles managing knowledge and data and delivering actionable information to those who need it. I started in primary journal publishing, then joined the environmental sciences team producing CAB Abstracts. As coordinator of the Distribution Maps of Plant Pests and Diseases, I worked closely with the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO), the Natural History Museum London, the US Department of Agriculture, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Biosecurity Australia. I then joined CABI’s global Plantwise programme (now PlantwisePlus) when it launched in 2011, developing the Plantwise Knowledge Bank, compiling and editing the most relevant evidence-based diagnostic, management, and distribution information on crop pests and diseases. During this time, I worked in a number of different countries, including providing support for the implementation of knowledge and data tools in Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka, and carrying out a secondment at the International Plant Protection Convention secretariat at the FAO in Rome. Following this, I managed the knowledge and data component of CABI’s flagship invasive species programme, Action on Invasives, during which we developed tools to support diagnosis, management, risk analysis and regulation of invasive species.

Before joining CABI, I volunteered on a microfinance development project in Tanzania, empowering women to set up community businesses in Mbeya area. I have an MSc in Ecology, Evolution & Conservation from Imperial College, studying the effects of heathland management on carabid beetle communities.