Sophie Ryan
Environmental Research Assistant
Habitat Monitoring; Nature-based Solutions; Urban Biodiversity
Research, Innovation and Enterprise
Sophie is a developing environmental researcher working within the Green Infrastructure team at the Sustainability Research Institute. With a Master's degree in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation from UCL, she is actively expanding her expertise in applied ecological research, contributing to innovative projects that address pressing environmental challenges.
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) in Biosciences (Zoology)
- MRes in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation from University College London
Areas Of Interest
- Urban Nature Plans Plus: delivery of urban biodiversity monitoring resources for streamlined city assessments.
- EcoPatterns: carrying out habitat assessments in peatland and open mosaic environments, digitising habitat data to inform machine learning models developed by industry partner, Gentian.
- UEL biodiversity baseline assessment: carrying out ecological surveys across UEL’s three campuses, digitising environmental data and calculating Urban Nature Factor across multiple monitoring years.
- GLA Front Garden de-paving: conducting literature and grey literature reviews to understand the current data and legislation surrounding front garden paving in London, carrying out interviews with key leaders in international permeability initiatives, and synthesising research findings to inform a London-based initiative to encourage front garden de-paving and related environmental services.
Overview
Sophie is passionate about driving environmental solutions through rigorous scientific research and collaborative approaches.
Her research interests lie in harnessing emerging technologies and interdisciplinary partnerships to understand and mitigate human impacts on the natural environment. She graduated from UCL in 2023 with a Master's in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation, and has since gained diverse experience delivering research projects at the Natural History Museum, the Institute of Zoology, and Forest Research.
Her previous work spans a wide range of ecological themes, including habitat connectivity, population monitoring, mammal evolution, and wildlife disease risk. At the Sustainability Research Institute, Sophie is refining her skillset through active involvement in green infrastructure projects across rural and urban landscapes.
Her current research centres around nature-based solutions, urban biodiversity, and habitat monitoring.
As part of the Horizon Europe-funded Urban Nature Plan Plus project, Sophie supports the development of urban biodiversity monitoring resources aimed at strengthening Urban Nature Plans across European cities.
Within the Innovate UK-funded EcoPatterns project, she collects and digitises habitat data in peatland and open mosaic environments to train machine learning models in ecological characterisation. In addition, Sophie is leading the delivery of a biodiversity baseline assessment for the University of East London and contributing to a Greater London Authority-commissioned project focused on front garden de-paving as a nature-based solution to mitigate flood risk.
Industry partners
Publications
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications.
Publications
Browse past publications by year.
Full publications list
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications
The latest publication information will be shown here soon