Professional summary
Erica is an environmental data scientist, with an ecology and environmental management background. She is experienced in managing and analysing large datasets to drive impactful environmental insights. Erica is also skilled in creating informative data visualisations, graphics and figures to effectively communicate complex findings.
Erica is particularly interested in outreach and engagement. Erica has experience supporting diverse engagement activities for environmental projects, including conducting stakeholder workshops and providing training sessions both internally and externally.
Erica is also passionate about communicating science via graphic design and video editing. She is skilled at making marketing videos, infographics, posters and creative content for a range of projects. Erica is also a certified drone pilot and uses drones to collect video and photo footage to use in science communication videos.
She has a BSc in Ecological and Environmental Sciences with Management, and MSc by Research from the University of Edinburgh. Erica has previously worked at the University of Edinburgh, CNRS in France and as a freelance environmental consultant and project manager.
Web tools and apps
Infographics, videos, training courses and reports:
- Videos: GOVAQUA: The Oxford Rivers Portal introduction and walkthrough of the portal, playlist here
- Infographic: Zaja, E. (2024) Protecting Scottish lochs from toxic algal blooms
- Video: Glendell, P. & Zaja, E. (2024) Protecting Scottish Lochs from Climate Change
- Videos: Zaja, E. (2024) Every lake has a story — uP Cycle (upcyclelakes.org) and Join the uPcycle Inception Meeting - 27.03.24 — uP Cycle (upcyclelakes.org)
- Video: Zaja E., Nash G., Gerard F., Hall J. Floating Weed Manager (youtube.com)
- Video editing: uPcycle playlist
- MERLIN Academy module 1 coordination: Module 1 – Implementing and evidencing freshwater and wetland restoration (thinkific.com)
- Training course: Taylor, P.; Carnell, E.; Zaja, E.; Nickerson, R.; Pearson, C. (2024) Spatial Analysis in QGIS & R – An Introduction for Environmental Scientists (2024).
- Report: Linda May, Philip Taylor, Stephen Thackeray, Bryan Spears, Iain Gunn, Erica Zaja, Lily Gouldsbrough, Megan Hannah, Miriam Glendell, Zisis Gagkas, Mads Troldborg, Michaela Roberts, Kerr Adams (2024) Mitigating Climate Change Impacts on the Water Quality of Scottish Standing Waters. CRW2022_03. Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW). Available online at: crew.ac.uk/publications. https://www.crew.ac.uk/publication/mitigating-climate-change-phase-2 ISBN: 978-1-911706-17-5.
Before joining UKCEH, Erica designed and delivered engagement/tutorial materials. Some examples are:
- Coding Club tutorial on statistical test ANOVA
- Open Educational Resource for Primary schools to learn to identify British trees
Infographics, videos, training courses and reports:
- Videos: GOVAQUA: The Oxford Rivers Portal introduction and walkthrough of the portal, playlist here
- Infographic: Zaja, E. (2024) Protecting Scottish lochs from toxic algal blooms
- Video: Glendell, P. & Zaja, E. (2024) Protecting Scottish Lochs from Climate Change
- Videos: Zaja, E. (2024) Every lake has a story — uP Cycle (upcyclelakes.org) and Join the uPcycle Inception Meeting - 27.03.24 — uP Cycle (upcyclelakes.org)
- Video: Zaja E., Nash G., Gerard F., Hall J. Floating Weed Manager (youtube.com)
- Video editing: uPcycle playlist
- MERLIN Academy module 1 coordination: Module 1 – Implementing and evidencing freshwater and wetland restoration (thinkific.com)
- Training course: Taylor, P.; Carnell, E.; Zaja, E.; Nickerson, R.; Pearson, C. (2024) Spatial Analysis in QGIS & R – An Introduction for Environmental Scientists (2024).
- Report: Linda May, Philip Taylor, Stephen Thackeray, Bryan Spears, Iain Gunn, Erica Zaja, Lily Gouldsbrough, Megan Hannah, Miriam Glendell, Zisis Gagkas, Mads Troldborg, Michaela Roberts, Kerr Adams (2024) Mitigating Climate Change Impacts on the Water Quality of Scottish Standing Waters. CRW2022_03. Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW). Available online at: crew.ac.uk/publications. https://www.crew.ac.uk/publication/mitigating-climate-change-phase-2 ISBN: 978-1-911706-17-5.
Before joining UKCEH, Erica designed and delivered engagement/tutorial materials. Some examples are:
- Coding Club tutorial on statistical test ANOVA
- Open Educational Resource for Primary schools to learn to identify British trees