Becky Coston

Biography and research

In my PhD, I am going to be investigating the robustness and scales of landscape connectivity in the Lake District, primarily in association with Cumbria Connect.

Before coming to York, I completed an MSc in Data Science (Environmental Analytics) at the University of Manchester. Inspired by a spatial ecology module and data management volunteering with Kent Wildlife Trust, I spent two years as a Data and GIS Officer at Cheshire Wildlife Trust. A major project was co-designing and delivering the mapped elements of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), where connectivity modelling helped identify priority areas for nature recovery actions. However, this raised key questions about how modelling choices influence final recommendations and how modelling outputs can best prioritise action given tight conservation funding. So, when this project then popped up it seemed a perfect way to investigate and hopefully answer some of these questions!

Funder 

Addressing the Challenges of Changing Environments Doctoral Landscape
Award (ACCE+ DLA)