About Me

I am an early career ecologist who wants to help conserve wildlife and inform land management practices. I’ve recently graduated with a First-Class Honours degree in Ecological and Environmental Science from the University of Edinburgh. I am now a MSc student at The University of British Columbia. I have published papers on a range of Scottish conservation issues and I have also recently finished my undergraduate dissertation, in which I mapped and quantified the extent of deforestation across red panda habitat in the Himalayas. I have strong data science and remote sensing skills that can be used to support real-world environmental management. I am also passionate about young people being involved in decision making for issues that affect them. Check out my projects and research by clicking on the pictures below.

Read More.

As a Highlander who grew up in the Cairngorms National Park, I have a keen interest in, and understanding of, land management issues. I am a big believer in the efficacy of data driven decision making and I am particularly keen to work with data in order to resolve conservation conflicts. Please see my forestry best practice research for examples of the work I have done on this.

When I don’t have my head in code, I can be found camping in the Cairngorms, re-reading Ursula Le Guin, or listening to anything produced by Pitchfork or Drag City Records. I have a particular love for good data visualisation and music. Follow me on Twitter at @CryptidCosgrove where I post about all things #DataVis and what I am currently listening too.

Marbled Murrelet Nesting Habitat Modeling

Masters Reserch. I led this project that used Airborne Laser Scanning data to model the nesting habitat of the endangered marbled murrelet.

Forest Growth Modeling

Masters Reserch. This project used Airborne Laser Scanning data to model the growth of hybrid poplar plantations in Canada. I am a co-author on this research.

Red Panda Habitat Loss

Undergraduate Dissertation. This project used the Google Earth Engine to quantify and map forest loss in Red Panda habitat throughout its entire range.

Mollusc of the Glen

Research with Alba Ecology. This project aims to increase awareness and conduct research on the endangered Freshwater Pearl Mussel.

Improving Forestry Best Practice

Research with Alba Ecology. Resolving conservation conflicts through research in Scotland.

My Skills

  • Fieldwork

    I have conducted a range of fieldwork in the UK including; freshwater pearl mussel surveys, upland and woodland bird surveys, butterfly transects, and protected mammal surveys. I have lots of experience working solo in remote environments and am a competent navigator and hillwalker. In Canada I collected field data on plant traits and phenology.

  • Coding

    I am a competent R user (5 years experience). I am also experienced at GIS and processing Remote Senisng data such as images, lidar, telemetry data. I have good stats skills (mixed effect modeling, regression etc.) and have experience making habitat models and continuous movement models.

  • Data Visualisation

    I love making informative and aesthetic data visualisations. I am well versed with ggplot2 in R. I am skilled at GIS and can make technical maps.

  • Communication

    I believe in making my writing as accessible to people as possible, particularly when writing about technical issues. I have experience presenting at many conferences on a range of issues, through presentations and poster sessions. I have taught two courses, Advanced Remote Sensing for Ecosystem Managment (corse design and lead TA, MSc level), and Observing the Earth From Space (1st year undergrad, TA)

  • Open Science

    I believe science should be transparent and reproducible. To support this, I make my code available on GitHub and try to make my data available to download where possible.

  • Team Work

    I have worked with many young people and stakeholders to bring about positive change for the youth in the Highlands and European National Parks. I have also worked as a team in remote and extreme environments through my field work experience with Alba Ecology and Team Shrub.