Meet Team Communicate
Team Communicate is a pilot programme run by Bristol Natural History Consortium. Team Communicate brings together different parts of our current volunteer programme and our national professional development conference “Communicate“. This programme is providing training, and experience for 13 volunteers to work in the environmental sector.
Kari Anne Heald
Kari-Anne is a domestic animals veterinarian, but she also is interested and would like to get more involved in working with animals for conservation. She is keen to learn about conservation medicine and understand how diseases can impact on ecological balance.
Another topic Kari-Anne feels strongly about is sustainability, not only in practice, she also is a fervent advocate of public education on the matter.
When she is off duty, Kari-Anne likes to play netball, read and take photographs.
One of her favourite natural experience has been to be able to see blue whales in their natural habitat.
Phakhanan Piyanuttapool, A.K.A. Boat
Boat is a full-time student at UWE, studying Marketing Communication Management. She is keen to learn how marketing technics can influence people behaviour, as well as understanding how communication skills can apply in various fields.
Growing up in Thailand, Boat was an active member of ABAC Preservers Club (Assumption University, Bangkok) which aims to raise awareness about the nature conservation in Thailand.
She likes to video-blog on her spare time, as well as photography. One of her favourite interest lies in natural-inspired designs and biomimicry. She is fascinated by natural designs and how humans can learn from it and use it themselves.
Charlotte Sams
Charlotte is a professional photographer, with a strong interest in conservation and documentation of British marine life. She likes to use visual medias to communicate the natural world to others.
Related to her passion about the oceans, she has aquatic hobbies such as surfing, paddle-boarding, scuba and free diving. She also recently took up foraging of seaweeds.
One of her greatest accomplishment was to become a media manager on a shark research project, raising awareness for these stunning but persecuted creatures, and getting involved in field work.
Sandra Novak
Sandra studied integrated conservation, and after years of searching her niche, she is now learning the skills to work in conservation and environmental education. Several trips to exotic hot-spots have confirmed her understanding and interest in helping local communities, in the hope to relieve some of the pressures on nearby endangered ecosystems and species.
For her, all species deserve their place on Earth, and she is keen to defend and educate on them all, even the unpopular ones.
Seeing wild exotic animals in their environment, such as sea turtles, orangutans and lemurs, has been some of the most exciting experiences in Sandra’s life.
Georgie Skinner
Georgie currently works as an administrator and on her spare time, she goes to dance classes and likes to sing in a choir.
She has many wildlife interests, including primates, especially great apes, and her university year-placement project was on orangutans and gorillas. One of her current goals is to learn more about British wildlife and native species, as this is an area she still knows little about. She is also fascinated by marine wildlife but terrified of the sea!
One of Georgie’s best life experience was to finally see David Attenborough do a live speech at the Wildscreen Panda Award in 2016.
Natascha Imlay
Natascha currently works for the NHS as an Information Systems Trainer specialising in instructional design and digital learning. Having recently completed a master’s degree in Advanced Wildlife Conservation in Practice at UWE, she is looking to take her existing skills into the conservation sector. She is interested in saltmarsh habitats and their creation for coastal protection.
Natascha is a student member of the British Ecological Society (BES) and of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).
One of Natascha’s greatest achievements is completing her master’s degree full-time, while working full-time, and achieving a degree with merit
Max Hemmings
Max currently works as an ecologist specialising in terrestrial protected species, Phase 1 surveys, and bat call analysis. He is a member of a number of conservation groups including Avon Wildlife Trust, the Bat Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), and Keynsham Avon Wildlife Trust.
Max enjoys waking up to the dawn chorus, walking barefoot on the beach, and listening to bat calls on dusk surveys.
Max has completed the Paris marathon, but won’t reveal his finish time. He also holds a master’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation, and a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry.
Amy Bothamley
Amy currently works as a TV runner. She is interested in African and UK wildlife conservation, and marine conservation. Amy is also a member of the Bristol Nature Network, the Bristol Zoological Society, the Marine Conservation Society, the National Trust, and Surfers Against Sewage.
Amy fulfilled a long-term dream when she went to Kenya to study elephant distribution and movement in the Mount Kenya Nature Reserve. Her project aimed to safely maintain historic elephant migration routes, allowing them to move between protected areas and keeping different elephant populations connected, whilst also protecting local people and their resources.
Rosie Jackson
Rosie has just been promoted to Ecologist, and as part of her job, she carries out habitat and protected species surveys, and analyses local record centre data and online maps to inform on ecological impact or constraint assessments.
Rosie is keen to make space for nature in the city, mitigating the impact of development and enhancing biodiversity. She thinks that building a connection with nature can benefit personal wellbeing, physical and mental health. Rosie is interested in how we effectively communicate to raise awareness of and promote these issues.
Rosie’s best wildlife moment was seeing a wild otter for the first time while carrying out survey work in Wales.
Becky Dyer
Becky works as a water sampler for Bristol Water, taking samples from lakes and rivers, and from customers taps.
Becky loves to get involved in citizen science projects and believes they are the way to engage people in the nature world and in conservation. Citizen science engages and empowers people, making them feel like they can make a difference.
Becky’s biggest achievement so far has been to complete the Macmillan Jurassic Coast Might Hike with her dad in 2017. She raised over £900 for Macmillan Cancer Support and enjoyed the challenge so much that she has signed up to do it again this year in the Wye Valley.
James Dunn
James is currently a full-time student at UWE studying for a master’s in Environmental Consultancy and he also works part-time in retail. He is interested in rewilding, sustainability, and community enhancement through ecological management.
James is an active member of the Institute of Environmental Science and the Chartered Institute of Waste Management.
Outside of his studies, James is interested in community engagement, art, design, and music. One of his biggest achievement was completing his bachelor’s degree in environmental science and getting a place on the master’s degree course
Emma Bennett
Emma currently works at Abbotswood Veterinary Centre, carrying out admin, marketing and reception duties. She is also a member of the Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group and Bristol Nature Network.
Emma is interested in the tropics and rainforests, wildlife gardening, and working with communities. For her master’s project she travelled to the Philippines and collected data on the critically endangered Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons) and spent 10 weeks in the jungle for this research.
To relax Emma enjoys reading, cooking, watching documentaries, and listening to podcasts. She enjoys hiking and walking her dog on the beach.
