Professional summary

Nancy's scientific expertise focuses on understanding the processes and environmental controls on carbon and nitrogen cycling, storage and release from a wide variety of terrestrial environments including peatland, grassland, heathland and forest. 

She formerly led CEH's Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions (BAI) Science Area, seeking to understand and quantify the interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere. This knowledge is used to inform habitat management and policy on air pollution and climate change. To achieve this, scientists use data from long-term field sites, laboratory and field experiments, and modelling of greenhouse gases, reactive air pollutants, water and energy.

Her research focuses on the biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems, in particular the influences of chronic, low-level air pollution and climate change on natural and human ecosystems. She has a special interest in cross-disciplinary research, and over my career I have developed joint projects with colleagues in volcanology, isotope geochemistry, waste management technology, palaeoclimatology, ecohydrology and microbial ecology.