I work four days/week on RENEW (Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature approach) and one day/week on ACCESS (Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environmental Science). My research focuses on learning and perceptions about biodiversity. I am particularly interested in plants and invertebrates, as easily accessible forms of nature in urban environments. My ACCESS Flex Fund project focuses on coproducing knowledge about urban biodiversity renewal with families in an area of multiple disadvantage in Plymouth.

My PhD focused on plant blindness, the well-documented deficit in interest and awareness for plants, as compared to animals, and novel pedagogic approaches in school and adult learning contexts. This research highlighted the need for biodiversity education to foster a sense of wonder about the natural world, to promote immersive and sensorial experience with species and ecosystems, and to have direct relevance to people’s lives. You can view a public talk I gave here about Pavement Plants.

I also have a background in sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation. I was a lecturer in land-based colleges for 10 years, teaching at foundation and degree level. I co-produced the University of Exeter Sustainable Food Systems MOOC. 

I am a Member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal in Science Education and I sit on the educational research groups of the Royal Entomological Society and the Royal Society of Biology.