Louise Heathwaite | |
---|---|
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Lancaster University | |
Assumed office 1 August 2019 | |
Chair of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Science Advisory Council (SAC) | |
Assumed office 1 July 2021 | |
Alma mater | University of East Anglia University of Bristol |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Hydrochemistry |
Institutions | |
Louise Heathwaite CBE FRS FRSE FRSB is a British environmental scientist. She is Distinguished Professor in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research and Enterprise. She is a hydrochemist working on diffuse environmental pollution, especially the pathways of nitrogen and phosphorus loss from agricultural land to water.
In 2004 she was elected as Vice-President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in recognition of the distinguished contribution she has made to catchment science and to science-policy engagement. [1] [2] In 2017 Heathwaite became the first woman to be elected President of the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA).
In July 2021 Heathwaite accepted a ministerial appointment as Chair of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Science Advisory Council, which provides expert advice to the ’Defra Chief Scientific Adviser and helps guide Defra’s scientific priorities and planning. In April 2022 she was appointed to the UK Cabinet Office's Geospatial Commission as an independent commissioner. She was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government on Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment from 2012-2017 and was a Council member (ex-officio) on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) from 2012-2017, prior to being appointed to the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) NERC Council from 2018-2021. [3] Heathwaite served on Defra's Science Advisory Council from 2011-17. In December 2023 she was appointed as the Executive Chair of NERC. [4]
Heathwaite was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday honours 2018 for services to scientific research and scientific advice to government. On receiving the honour she said, “I love trying to work out what makes things tick and working independently, so research was the only career for me. More so, I want science to be useful and I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to show how science can help with government policy.” [5]
Heathwaite graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia in 1982 [6] and was awarded a PhD on Wetland Hydrochemistry from the University of Bristol in 1987.
Heathwaite joined the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield in 1990 becoming Professor in 1998. In 2004 she moved to Lancaster University to set up and Direct the interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainable Water Management that would eventually become part of the Lancaster Environment Centre. In 2018, she was appointed Cross-Faculty Associate Dean for Research at Lancaster University and was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) in 2019. [7]
A key element of Heathwaite's research is the concept of Critical Source Areas [8] which can be modelled to evaluate diffuse pollution risk. These models have been used in creating water policy including the EU Water Framework Directive, Defra's Catchment Sensitive Farming project and the work of The Rivers Trust). Heathwaite held a position on the Board of Trustees of the Eden River Trust from 2008-12.
Heathwaite chaired an independent review for the Scottish Funding Council of the Scottish research pooling initiative which reported its results in September 2019. [9]
In 2004 she was elected as Vice-President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS).
In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).
In 2017 she was elected President of the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA).
In 2018 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to scientific research and scientific advice to government.
In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in recognition of her sustained scholarship in environmental science, her outstanding contribution to science leadership, and her highly-valued expertise in translating science to policy and impacts. [4]
Publications include:
The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics, between 1965 and 1994.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific research institutes and university research departments in the UK.
Sir John Hartley Lawton is a British ecologist, RSPB Vice President, President of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, President of The Institution of Environmental Sciences, Chairman of York Museums Trust and President of the York Ornithological Club.
The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. The organisation has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change. Research topics include: air pollution, biodiversity, chemical risks in the environment, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, sustainable agriculture, sustainable ecosystems, water quality, and water resources management.
Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research. She is currently the Chancellor of the University of Leeds.
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algal growth. Sources of nutrient pollution include surface runoff from farm fields and pastures, discharges from septic tanks and feedlots, and emissions from combustion. Raw sewage is a large contributor to cultural eutrophication since sewage is high in nutrients. Releasing raw sewage into a large water body is referred to as sewage dumping, and still occurs all over the world. Excess reactive nitrogen compounds in the environment are associated with many large-scale environmental concerns. These include eutrophication of surface waters, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, acid rain, nitrogen saturation in forests, and climate change.
Julia Mary Slingo is a British meteorologist and climate scientist. She was Chief Scientist at the Met Office from 2009 until 2016. She is also a visiting professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, where she held, prior to appointment to the Met Office, the positions of Director of Climate Research in the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Centre for Atmospheric Science and founding director of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research.
Sir Ian Lamont Boyd, is a Scottish zoologist, environmental and polar scientist, former Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and is a professor of biology at the University of St Andrews. He is Chair of the UK Research Integrity Office and President of the Royal Society of Biology.
Katherine Jane Willis, Baroness Willis of Summertown, is a British biologist, academic and life peer, who studies the relationship between long-term ecosystem dynamics and environmental change. She is Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, and an adjunct professor in biology at the University of Bergen. In 2018 she was elected Principal of St Edmund Hall, and took up the position from 1 October. She held the Tasso Leventis Chair of Biodiversity at Oxford and was founding Director, now Associate Director, of the Biodiversity Institute Oxford. Willis was Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 2013 to 2018. Her nomination by the House of Lords Appointments Commission as a crossbench life peer was announced on 17 May 2022.
Judith Irene Petts CBE is a British academic and the Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University.
Rachel Ann Mills is a Professor of Ocean Chemistry at the University of Southampton. She is a deep-sea oceanographer who works on the chemistry of the seafloor and its impact on life in the sea. She has led research expeditions using submersibles and remotely operated vehicles to remote and deep, unexplored parts of the ocean.
Hayley J. Fowler is a Professor of Climate Change Impacts in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University.
Barbara Ann Maher is a Professor Emerita of Environmental Science at Lancaster University. She served as director of the Centre for Environmental magnetism & Palaeomagnetism until 2021 and works on magnetic nanoparticles and pollution.
Rosemary S. Hails is a British population ecologist and entomologist and the current Director of Science and Nature at the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. Prior to this appointment she was the Director of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science for UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, managing and directing the science of 350 ecologists and hydrologists, in collaboration with the Science Director for Water and Pollution Science. Professor Hails successfully led the development of UKCEH's national capability research programme delivered by the Research Centre, which cuts across the complete portfolio of expertise. She has led the Valuing Nature Programme for NERC, since October 2014, and is currently a CoInvestigator in the NERC Funded "RENEW" and "RestReco" Projects. In 2000, she was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to environmental research.
Tamara Susan Galloway is a British marine scientist and Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours.
Hannah Louise Cloke is a British hydrologist who is Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading. She was awarded the European Geosciences Union Plinius Medal in 2018 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours.
Melanie Jane Leng is a Professor of Isotope Geosciences at the University of Nottingham working on isotopes, palaeoclimate and geochemistry. She also serves as the Chief Scientist for Environmental Change Adaptation and Resilience at the British Geological Survey and Director of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. For many years she has been the UK convenor and representative of the UK geoscience community on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.
Georgia "Gia" Destouni is a Professor of Hydrology at Stockholm University. She works on the Baltic Sea Region Programme as well as studying the impact of climate change on societies in Northern Europe. She is the chair of the Global Wetland Ecohydrology Network (GWEN) and was involved with the National Geosphere Laboratory.
Lorraine Lucy Maltby is a British biologist and who is a professor of environmental biology at the University of Sheffield. She serves as deputy Vice-President for research and innovation and chair of the board of trustees of the Freshwater Habitats Trust. Her research investigates interactions in the riparian zone and the environmental impacts of agri-plastics.