Professional summary

Katrina's role at UKCEH focuses on investigating the impacts of ground-level ozone, an air pollutant that has negative effects on both humans and plants.

Before joining UKCEH, Katrina obtained a BSc in Zoology from the University of Glasgow (2006). She then worked for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) before completing a PhD in conservation ecology at the University of East Anglia (2013). She joined UKCEH in Bangor as a Research Associate in 2013 and has been a Spatial Data Analyst/ES Modeller since 2017. Katrina’s current role involves contributing to high quality research on the impacts of air pollution on vegetation, by collating spatial data (e.g. crop production, climatology), creating maps (using GIS, Python and R)  of modelled data, and carrying out statistical analyses on experimental data. This allows her to highlight crops and regions most at risk from current levels of this damaging air pollutant. Katrina also coordinates the collation of records received from users of the UKCEH ozone injury smartphone app.

Additionally, she has worked with the ecosystem services modelling tool InVEST. From April 2020, Katrina has been the Head of the Programme Centre for ICP Vegetation, working alongside Felicity Hayes (the Chair of ICP Veg). This is an international research programme investigating the impacts of air pollutants on crops and (semi-) natural vegetation. It reports to the Working Group on Effects (WGE) of the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). Over 250 scientists from around the world participate in the programme.

Selected publications