Grace Skinner

Grace is a Data Scientist within the Biodiversity Monitoring & Analysis Group. Her research involves applying computational methods and novel technologies to environmental challenges, including automated monitoring of biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and insect declines. 

Grace plays a leading role in projects using technology like the AMI (Automated Monitoring of Insects) system, which uses UV light and high-resolution imaging combined with machine learning to monitor moth populations at scale. She leads and supports field deployments, develops and refines system software, and analyses large datasets. Since October 2024, she has been undertaking a part-time PhD with UKCEH and the University of Reading, using AMI data to investigate the impacts of agriculture and extreme weather on moth populations.

Within AgZero+, Grace is designing and implementing a farm health check tool to support the UK’s transition towards sustainable, carbon-neutral, and nature-friendly farming. This involves collecting farm data and processing it through UKCEH datasets and models to generate informative reports for farmers.

As part of GLiTRS, Grace developed Dynameta, an interactive Shiny app for ecological meta-analysis, and led a global meta-analysis on the impacts of invasive alien species on terrestrial insects.

Grace graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Bath (2021), including a placement year at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. She also has an MSc in Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution from Imperial College London (2022), and joined UKCEH in 2022.