Charlotte is the Commercial Manager for Mine Energy at The Coal Authority. She is a geologist/hydrogeologist by training and gained her PhD from Newcastle University in 1999. This focused on treating the polluted discharges flowing from historically abandoned lead-zinc mines in the North Pennines. Latterly she worked on coal mines designing low cost ways to treat mine water when it reaches surface. Spending time above and below ground taking water samples from mines sparked her interest in the potential of using mine water for heat and she has been promoting the geothermal potential of the UK coalfields and more widely ever since.

Matt Askin is a chartered scientist with over fifteen years’ experience in the UK environmental sector. With a background in both regulatory and consultancy roles, he has extensive skills in investigating and managing environmental challenges.

Matt has particular expertise in the investigation, monitoring, risk assessment and management of hazardous ground gases, with substantial knowledge of landfill, waste deposit and brownfield sectors. More recently he has been focussed on improving the environmental performance of the onshore oil and gas sector, specifically ways to reduce greenhouse gases and other associated emissions. 

Matt is also a long-standing Fellow of the Geological Society and has served on a number of regional and specialist group committees, including the Society’s Environment Network. He has a keen interest in innovation and a proven track record of using new and repurposed technology to improve the environmental performance of activities, both for clients and wider society.

Jon is part of the Innovation team at the Coal Authority. His focus is on finding sustainability improvements and uses for materials generated in our mine water treatment schemes. Jon’s been working on several product opportunities for Hydrous Ferric Oxide (HFO) in addition to uses for harvested reed biomas.

Before joining the Coal Authority in 2016, Jon worked in process engineering for minerals and metal production in the steel industry. Following a short stint at Newcastle University he’s been involved in a range of collaborative research projects for the minerals and mining sector.

Aga joined Groundsure in 2017 after working for 5 years in various customer-facing roles in Brighton. Her ability and drive meant she soon drew the attention of senior management. This led to her promotion to Deputy Customer Service Manager is just over a year since joining the company. Although our Customer Service role is engaging, the excellent opportunities at Groundsure meant she was soon able to progress to her current role as the Account Manager. This position allows her to employ her previous Customer Support experience alongside newer account management techniques to provide a great experience to her clients.

Will has worked in both environmental and pharmaceutical testing since 1996, working in all areas of the laboratory and also customer service and contract/account management. In 2015 Will joined i2 Analytical as part of the Business Development Team and now provides technical sales support and training throughout the UK.

Profile coming soon...

Dr. Tom Henman has over 20 years’ experience of contaminated land assessment and remediation, gained in both consultancy and for a problem-holder. He is a Director based in RSK’s Glasgow office and is also responsible for leading technical quality within RSK’s 200- strong Geosciences business. Tom is a Chartered Chemist and a Chartered Scientist. He is also a registered Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC), a Suitably Qualified and experienced Person (SQP) under the National Quality Mark Scheme (NQMS) and a SiLC assessor. He is currently Deputy Chair of the SiLC Professional & Technical Panel (PTP) championing technical standards in land contamination assessment. He has a keen interest in developing and promoting technical excellence and has been actively involved in industry initiatives led by AGS, CIRIA and CL:AIRE furthering the development of industry standards. He was recently part of a team delivering a research project for the Scottish Government on assessing and managing risks to development from mine gas as well as a co-author of good practice guidance in this area. He has represented the environmental consultancy sector on the Scottish Government Contaminated Land Advisory Group. Tom has collaborated with a number of universities, including the University of Strathclyde and the University of West of Scotland amongst others, on innovative research projects, co-authoring research papers. His work has been recognised in the Brownfield Awards including the Buchanan St. Ambrose schools independent enquiry (Best Public Engagement and Participation, Brownfield Awards 2020).

Deryck Irving is Director of Strategy and Development at the Green Action Trust. An ecologist by training, he has over 30 years of experience of working with urban and peri-urban communities. Deryck’s interests and expertise lie in community-led placemaking, climate resilience and green infrastructure.

Deryck is an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism, a trustee at the Scottish Wildlife Trust and a member of the Vacant and Derelict Land Taskforce. He has previously been a director of Natural Capital Scotland and a management group member at the Community Development Alliance Scotland.

Profile coming soon...

Craig is Director of Scotland and Ireland in the Royal Town Planning Institute. He took up the post with RTPI in January 2011 and works with around 2,500 RTPI members in Scotland and Ireland to shape and inform policy and practice to ensure that planning helps to create great places for people. He also leads on Conduct and Discipline for the Institute.

Prior to this Craig set up and managed the Scottish Centre for Regeneration in Scottish Government and its agency Communities Scotland, as its Director. He has also been Chief Executive of the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF); Sottish Planning Policy Officer with the RTPI; and a planner and economic development officer for the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Craig is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Institute of Economic Development and is an Academician of the Institute of Urbanism. He is a Trustee of Resilient Scotland Ltd and Scotland’s Towns Partnership. In 2015 Scottish Ministers asked Craig to chair the National Waking Strategy Delivery Forum.

Dr Paul Nathanail took up his role as Technical Director of Contamination Assessment and Remediation with GHD in July. GHD is one of the world's leading professional services companies operating in the global market sectors of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. 

Paul is excited to be working with a team of over 10,000 colleagues across the world – One GHD!  He has already worked on projects in Australia, Middle East, Ireland and the West Indies – as well as the Lake District, Northumberland and Fulham!  He has also been working to help organisations understand and better manage their liabilities from PFAS – the forever chemicals.

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He has recently been working on how to ensure innovative remediation integrates with sustainable remediation and maintains a social licence to operate.  He chaired the ISO working group that wrote BS ISO 18504:2017 and has published on operating windows and regularly teaches on remediation in British universities and audiences around the world – though not in person for the past few months.

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Paul currently chairs the National Brownfield Forum and is deputy chair of the board of directors of SILC Register.  He is a director of CABERNET and chairs his local neighbourhood forum. 

Prof. Colin Reid is Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Dundee where he has worked since 1991. He has taught and written on various environmental law and public law themes, including biodiversity law, climate law and devolution, and access to environmental information. 

He spoke at one of the first events on Brexit and the Environment, in November 2015, and since then has continued to be active on the consequences of Brexit for environmental law. This has included participation in research projects, the Brexit & Environment Network and the UK Environmental Law Association Brexit Task Force, as well as the Governance Sub-group of the Scottish Government’s Roundtable on Environment and Climate Change. 

He has given written and oral evidence to several committees of both the Westminster and Holyrood Parliaments and is currently an adviser to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee of the Scottish Parliament. 

He was a founding member and now Patron of the UK Environmental Law Association and is a long-standing contributor to and editorial board member of Scottish Planning and Environmental Law. 

Steve is a Chartered Engineer and Environmentalist with 30 years professional experience of geotechnical and environmental engineering. Steve has helped to shape much of the UK guidance on ground gas assessment and remediation.  He is widely recognised as a leading expert in ground gas and provides advice and designs for remediation schemes on sites around the world.  He has successfully applied quantitative risk assessment to ground gas for both development and Part IIA sites over 20 years.  He is co-author of the Local Authority Guide to Ground Gas and was a member of the drafting committee for British Standard BS8576 on ground gas investigation.  He was also a member of the research team for a recently completed CIRIA project on the verification and integrity testing of gas protection systems.

Steve also presents training courses on ground gas for the Chartered Institution of Environmental Health and CIRIA.

Dr Joanna (Jo) Wilding  has over 15 year’ experience of contaminated land assessment and remediation. Jo has an academic background, following which she worked in the private sector, as a regulator in local government for six years and at Public Health England prior to moving to RSK in 2014. Jo is a Chartered Environmentalist, a registered Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC) and a Suitably Qualified and experienced Person (SQP) under the National Quality Mark Scheme (NQMS).  Jo also holds ASoBRA for human health. Jo currently leads the RSK Geosciences quantitative risk assessment team and is on the Executive Committee of the Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment (SoBRA).