Dr Beth Conlan - Air Quality
Dr Beth Conlan is the Technical Director for
the Air Quality Modelling, Mapping and Assessment team at Ricardo Energy & Environment, leading a team of 30 consultants. Beth has been supporting Local Authorities since 1995 on Local Air Quality Management and has been involved in,
and managed, over 300 review and assessments for local authorities, some of which have been promoted as good examples by Defra. She has assisted Defra redraft each Local Air Quality Management Technical Guidance note series.
She has been instrumental in the delivery of the national air quality plan and local action plans working with stakeholders from transport and health disciplines in the implementation of measures. Beth has supported the European Commission
for over 10 years working on time extension notification and infringement technical reviews and more widely in the review of the Air Quality Directive in 2013. She is the Framework manager for services supporting the evaluation, implementation
and further development of air quality policies across Europe. Since 1998 Beth has been a trainer of air quality management to local authorities as part of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health EMAQ training programme which is
endorsed by the Institute of Air Quality Management. Beth is a member of UK Government expert Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution, a global leading authority on impact of air pollution on public health.
Thomas Buckland - Air Quality
Tom Buckland is an Associate Director, Project Manager and
Team Leader working in the Environmental Evidence & Data Practice. Tom has
an extensive track record of successful projects related to air quality and
climate change. Tom specialises in emissions arising from the transport,
industry and waste management sectors and is a member of Ricardo Energy &
Environment's inventory team responsible for the provision of the UK’s National
Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI). Tom is experienced in the preparation
of Low Emission Strategies and Climate Action Plans for cities in the UK and
overseas. Tom regularly leads stakeholder consultation events and capacity
building workshops designed to identify opportunities for low emission measures
and policies.
Dr Guy Hitchcock - Air Quality
Dr Guy Hitchcock has over 20 years' experience of research and
consulting on the environmental impacts of transport. He has worked in
both consultancy and academia including roles as the head of the Centre
Energy and the Environment at the University of Exeter, a Director of
his own consultancy company, Sustainable Transport Solutions Ltd, and
running the Bristol office of Transport and Travel Research Ltd. Guy has
worked for a wide range of clients in both the public and private
sector including UK Government departments, the European Commission,
Heathrow Airport Ltd, and a wide range of local authorities.
Keith Vincent - Air Quality
Keith Vincent is a Senior Consultant with 30 years' experience in air
quality monitoring and policy assessment. Throughout this time he has
been involved with developing air quality modelling tools, reporting
monitoring data and assessing the impact of measures and regulations on
ambient air quality. He also works in local air quality management
developing air quality action plans and assessing the impact of road
traffic emissions. and took a leading role in ensuring that reported
monitoring and metadata from all UK air quality monitoring networks meet
the required standard. Keith has been an EMAQ trainer for Local Air
Quality Management since 2017
Alan Leonard - Emissions Monitoring
Alan Leonard has over twenty-five years' experience in environmental consultancy and provides support and guidance for industry and regulators. He has been involved in the measurement and optimisation of emissions from a wide range of stationary sources. As a consequence has developed a technical knowledge of measurement procedures and of processes. He has particular experience in characterising emissions and has provided consultancy on combustion emissions and emission monitoring to UK Government, Industry and overseas clients. In addition his knowledge includes the associated regulation used to regulate these processes. Also he has been involved in producing guidance documents and training for the United Kingdom Environment Agency and a number of private sector operators.
Oliver Marshall - Air Quality
Oliver is an Air Quality Analyst Consultant in the Evidence & Policy team, specialising in air quality dispersion modelling. Oliver has worked on studies employing the use of RapidAIR for road traffic scenario testing. He joined the Evidence & Policy team after completing his Master of Research in Climate and Atmospheric Science and Bachelors in Environmental Science at the University of Leeds. Oliver’s research project presented the climatology of extreme surface wind speeds over Europe from 1950 - 2014 using a multi-model ensemble.
Robert Stewart - Emissions Monitoring
Robert Stewart has over
thirty years practical experience of industrial emission measurement and
control and he provides IPPC permitting support and guidance for industry and
regulators. His clients have included: the Environment Agency, SEPA, Local
Authorities, UK Central Government, the European Commission and Industry. His
specialist knowledge spans the range of processes covered by LAIPPC and LAPPC
under the provisions of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales)
Regulations. Examples of his work include: advising the European Commission on
modifications to: the IPPC Directive, solvents, waste incineration and related
Directives and extending the IPPC directive to include 20-50MWth energy
installations. Robert has also provided support to the Scottish Executive,
London Councils and University of Aberdeen on potential air quality impacts of
increased biomass use for heating. Robert is a technical consultant to the UK
National Atmospheric Emission Inventory on the revision of pollutant emission
factors for industrial and other activities particularly for combustion
processes. He assisted with the revision of the UNECE guidebook on emission
inventories and projections to provide emission factors for industrial and
combustion sources and, to align the UNECE guidebook with IPCC guidance on
greenhouse gas inventories. He has reviewed national emission inventories and
emission projections for compliance with the National Emission Ceilings
Directive. He has advised Defra on technical aspects of the Clean Air
Act, Ecodesign Regulations and the Medium Combustion Plant Directive. Robert
has been a trainer on the EMAQ training programme for over ten years.
Nigel Gibson - Emissions Monitoring and Odour Management
Nigel Gibson has over twenty years' experience in the assessment and control of air pollution from industrial processes, and is Ricardo's foremost expert in the area of odour assessment and control. He has wide experience in the measurement
and control of odour from a wide range of agricultural, industrial, and waste sectors, working both for Local Authorities and process operators. He is deeply involved in developing guidance on odour, where he has assisted DEFRA
in their preparation of odour control guidance documents for commercial kitchens, nuisance control of bonfires and composting. He has also assisted SNIFFER develop their guidance for odour control from animal rendering and SEPA . He has prepared
guidance for SEPA on odour control and health aspects of odour, and has recently prepared guidance on BPM for odour control from waste water treatment in Scotland. Nigel represented the UK on several CEN Working Groups concerned with producing
harmonised emission monitoring methods to serve EU Directives. He has served on the Working Groups for odour, TOC and instrument certification etc. He is the technical assessor of the guidance on emission monitoring prepared for
the CIEH by Ricardo and is the principal author of several CIEH Protocols, including that relating to animal and vegetable processing sectors.
Tony Higgins - Noise Regulation & Permitting
Tony Higgins is a Director of Enviroconsult Limited specialising in environmental and acoustic consultancy services. Tony has worked in local government regulation for over 25 years, principally in environmental protection, but also
as an independent environmental consultant for the last 15 years. Tony worked as a regulator, and is familiar with evidence gathering, enforcement, and legal processes across a number of regulatory regimes. His technical expertise
covers a broad range of environmental disciplines including, environmental permitting, waste, noise and nuisance investigation, environmental planning, health and safety, and licensing. Tony is a member of the Institute
of Acoustics, Measurement and Instrumentation technical group. Tony's recent work involves considering planning applications for the redevelopment of Telford Town Centre, carrying out due diligence assessments for a tyre pyrolysis plant,
regulation of major industrial processes such as large foundries and galvanising plants and wood treatment plant, and helping devise multi-agency response to noise problems from Ironbridge Power station. Tony has organised BS4142:2014
training sessions for the Institute of Acoustics. Additionally, Tony has provided expert witness advice for councils in both inquiry and court, and has sat on the review of PG and SG notes for solvents, metals, minerals
and combustion industry sectors. Tony also attended the Industrial Pollution Control Local Authority Group and Industry Forum in relation to Industrial pollution control policy.
Tim Glews - Emissions Monitoring & Air Quality
Tim Glews has achieved Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner Status and is the Public Protection Manager, responsible for Environmental Protection and other services at Dudley MBC. He has over 37 years’ experience in Environmental Health and
over 30 years experience of regulating industrial processes, including some of the more complex A2 and part B installations. Tim has also managed his own consultancy business specialising in education and training since 1986. He is also
the Chairman and Treasurer of Midland Joint Advisory Council for Environmental Protection (MJAC), a pollution group advising Local authorities, Universities, PHE & The Environment Agency within the Greater Midland Region.
Tim represents MJAC & the West Midlands Metropolitan Borough Councils on national technical groups for part A & Part B activities & on air quality, reporting to Defra on policy and legislation implementation. Tim is also the
owner & lead facilitator for the LGA National Industrial Pollution Knowledge Hub. Tim has been involved with numerous SG and PG guidance note reviews and is still listed as "expert" for three industrial sectors by CIEH. Tim has extensive experience
in presenting, lecturing throughout the UK & Europe for the past 30 years and is an established visiting lecturer at both the universities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Tim is a practicing industrial regulator and experienced manager,
evolving policy and practice in all issues of Pollution Prevention and Control. He has undertaken successful enforcement action including prosecuting ‘not guilty’ pleas at Magistrates court, establishing precedent at high court,
managing cases at coroners court and pursuing Environmental Protection and planning appeals through the public inquiry route.
Charlotte Day - Air Quality
Charlotte is a Consultant in the Environmental Evidence and Data Practice, specialising in dispersion modelling studies on emissions to air from road and industrial sources. These studies employ the use of RapidAIR to predict air quality impacts
on human health and habitat sites, and are often submitted in support of policy decision documents for Local Authorities.Charlotte is experienced in the preparation of Low Emissions Strategies, Clean Air Zones and Zero Emission Zones for
city authorities, including contributing to stakeholder consultation events designed to identify opportunities for low emission transport measures and facilitate action planning. Charlotte is experienced in assessing the air quality impacts
of road sources on protected habitat sites, having completed numerous air quality Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRAs). Charlotte regularly leads stakeholder consultation with the client and Natural England as part of the HRA process. Charlotte
is currently helping to deliver an Air Quality Actions Feasibility Study for Buckinghamshire Council, developing and testing packages of air quality measures to reduce emissions of nitrogen dioxide in the Iver area and wider South Buckinghamshire
district.Charlotte is a trainer on Ricardo Energy & Environment’s accredited EMAQ+ programme, helping to deliver webinars and live seminars to local authorities on a range of subjects including HRAs, and methodologies for the assessment
of industrial emission sources. Charlotte joined the Environmental Evidence and Data department in November 2018 after completing an integrated Masters in Chemistry from the University of York. During her degree, Charlotte specialised in Chemistry,
Resources and the Environment, including a focus on atmospheric chemistry. The final year of Charlotte's degree was spent on a research placement at Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to joining Ricardo, Charlotte worked in the Feed-in
Tariff department for Ecotricity.
Tom Adams - Air Quality
Tom is a Principal Consultant at Ricardo. He has
13 years’ experience in the air quality field and specialises in air dispersion
modelling and providing air quality management support for both the public and
private sector. He is an experienced project manager and has managed projects
for both international and UK based clients. Tom is an accomplished user of air
dispersion modelling software and its application to the assessment of air
quality impacts on both human health and habitat sites. Tom has led the
assessment of Low Emission Zones both in the UK and internationally. He
regularly delivers stakeholder consultation events and capacity building
workshops designed to provide air quality support and identify opportunities
for low emission measures.
Tom joined Ricardo from the University of
Leicester where he gained a PhD and post-doctoral experience in the atmospheric
chemistry of air quality. He has extensive experience of developing, optimising
and deploying fixed and mobile instrumentation to measure trace gases in the
atmosphere. His most recent project involved making measurements of real-world
emissions of NO2 & aerosol particles from vehicle traffic.
David Hector - Air Quality
David Hector is a Consultant within the Air Quality team based in Ricardo-AEA's Glasgow office, North Ayrshire. He has over seven years' experience in air quality monitoring and assessment and his particular area of expertise lies in automated air quality monitoring networks and the quality assurance/quality control and management of air quality monitoring data. David also has experience in using ADMS, ADMS Roads, ArcGIS and other tools for air quality dispersion studies. Prior to working for AEA, David worked for 2 years in the Waste sector covering pollution control and compliance for active and inactive landfill sites. This included gas migration, surface and groundwater pollution, and soil contamination. David holds a B(Sc) Honours degree in Environmental management and Technology and has been a full member of the Institute of Institute of Environmental Sciences for 3 years.
Dr David Carslaw - Air Quality
David is the technical director for Ricardo Energy & Environment & has over 20 years' experience in air pollution science having previously worked at the Environmental Research Group at King's College London and the Institute for Transport Studies
at the University of Leeds. He leads the open source 'openair' project that has developed and made available many innovative data analysis techniques. The openair software is used extensively throughout the world and continues to evolve. David has
many interests in the statistical analysis of air pollution data and data science. He is an expert in the R programming language and uses it extensively in his work. Recently, David led two Defra projects using vehicle emission remote sensing
to better understand vehicle emissions in urban areas. This work led to the first comprehensive primary NO2 emission measurements in Europe using a remote sensing technique. He has been a member of AQEG (Air Quality Expert Group) since 2002. David
has a PhD and MSc in Atmospheric Science and a BSc in Physics. David spends 20% of his time as a Reader in Air Pollution Science at the Department for Chemistry at the University of York.
Jo Green - Air Quality
Jo Green is a Principal Consultant with 11 years experience in the air quality field. Jo has extensive knowledge of a wide range of ambient air quality monitoring techniques and designing suitable monitoring programmes as well as the subsequent data ratification, data interpretation and reporting. Jo is an experienced project manager and has managed a wide range
of air quality projects for key UK and international Government departments, local authorities and private industry. She is currently project manager for the Kent and Medway Air Quality Monitoring Network and numerous Local Authority air
quality monitoring contracts. Other significant projects Jo has managed include the development of a methodology to summarise air pollution effects on ecosystems; a long-term trunk road air quality monitoring network for the UK Highways Agency;
a pilot study looking at the development of a Geographically Specific Emissions Inventory for the EEA; and an investigation into the impact of motorway Active Traffic Management on emissions and air quality. She also is responsible for
one of the key projects which makes up the Environment Agency's new national air quality emergency response service.
Mark Attree - Air Quality
Mark Attree is a Senior Consultant at Ricardo Energy & Environment working in the Environmental Evidence & Data Practice. His areas of expertise include atmospheric physics, dispersion model sensitivity, and dispersion in complex urban environments. Mark provides consultancy services for a range of public and private sector clients, including emissions inventory compilation, local modelling for planning and permitting, and large-scale urban and regional modelling to support air quality action planning. He also has extensive experience providing technical support and software training for clients in the UK and abroad.
Mark Broomfield - Air Quality & Emissions Monitoring
Mark Broomfield is an air quality, odour and health impacts specialist with a BA in chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in atmospheric chemistry. He has worked in these areas since 1992, both within the consultancy sector and as an industry specialist at ICI. He provides technical, strategic and research support to industry and regulatory bodies. He has contributed to over 250 industrial permitting applications and follow-on support projects. He also works closely with clients to deliver obligations under the land-use planning and local air quality management frameworks. Mark also contributes to seminars and conferences on air quality, health and waste-related topics - for example, as an invited speaker and panel member at a European Commission expert workshop on geological risks of unconventional gas (autumn 2012). He is a member of the UK Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College and industrial supervisor of a PhD student at the University of Birmingham.
John Shelton - Noise Regulation
John Shelton is an experienced acoustician specialising in the instrumentation. John is the Managing Director of AcSoft having set up the business in 1994 following experience working developing loudspeakers at Goodmans, and later working with Bruel & Kjaer UK as an area sales engineer.John has specialisms in the measurement of sound intensity and source location techniques, as well as managing technical sales of instrumentation across the UK. John spent two years at Brüel & Kjær in Denmark gaining experience in VXI-based virtual instrumentation and development of software measurement solutions, ultimately taking responsibility for worldwide sales & marketing. John is an active member of the Institute of Acoustics and sits on several national committees and working groups on measurement & instrumentation is the Chair of the IOA Measurement and instrumentation group.
John Watterson - Emissions Inventories
John Watterson is the project manager of the UK GHG Emissions Inventory compiled on behalf of Defra. He has experience of the estimation of many of the main GHG emissions, for example, from combustion, industrial processes, waste disposal and an appreciation of emissions and sinks from agriculture and land use change. He is familiar with the international greenhouse gas reporting requirements, for example, the CRF tables and the National Inventory Report. John has been selected to participate in the IPCC scoping meeting for the revision of the "Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas inventories". John prepared a paper for presentation at the Workshop on Energy Balances and Energy related Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (Working Group I of the EU Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism Committee, 24 to 25 June 2003 EEA, Copenhagen). John has assisted with the development of the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) over a period of four years, and prepared the UK's first base cation inventory and developed a speciated mercury inventory. Prior to this John spent over 5 years working on Local Authority Review and Assessment of Air quality and has been a trainer of air quality management to local authorities as part of the EMAQ training programme for a number of years.
Chris Thorpe - Inventory & Climate Change
Chris is a Senior Consultant and Project Manager within the Environmental Evidence and Data Practice, specialising in the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of mitigation policy, greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and climate resiliency. Chris has experience working with sub-national governments (e.g. city and state/regional) to compile a GHG inventory, develop a climate action plan and assess climate resilience. Amongst others, he is currently managing a 3 year project to deliver capacity building support for GHG inventory compilation and mitigation policy tracking to 7 sub-national governments in low and middle income countries.Prior to joining Ricardo, Chris worked for 4 years at the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), founding their states and regions reporting programme, and prior to this, worked for the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment Unit, Greenpeace, and New Zealand’s Green Party.
Robert Benney - Air Quality
Robert Benney is an Environmental Consultant within the Air Quality and Environment Practice specialising in the impact assessment of Road, industrial and waste management facilities. Robert provides air dispersion modelling and human health impact assessments for a range of private and public sector clients, for facilities including mixed-use developments, large road infrastructure, large scale waste infrastructure projects, landfill sites, agricultural holdings, organic waste treatment sites, and onshore oil and gas facilities. Robert is a core member of Ricardo’s feasibility studies team, developing the evidence base for measures to achieve the UK’s air quality action plan and review team supporting Local authorities assess air quality assessments in support of planning applications.
Rohan Patel - Air Quality
Rohan is a Consultant in the Modelling and Assessments team at Ricardo Energy & Environment. He has over two years of experience in air quality consultancy, having been employed at Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) prior to Ricardo. During his time at CERC he gained experience and in-depth knowledge of setting up air dispersion models for complex small and large urban areas, as well as industrial applications. Projects he has undertaken vary from local council, international, research and model development projects giving him a wide range of experience in the air dispersion modelling industry. Problem-solving skills in the industry have been developed through providing advice and technical support to dispersion model users whilst working on CERC’s helpdesk. Rohan has also gained experience in carrying out training courses in the use of ADMS for a range of clients across the UK.
Stephen Stratton - Air Quality
Stephen Stratton is a Consultant within the Air Quality team based in Ricardo-AEA's Glasgow office, North Ayrshire. He has over seven years' experience in air quality monitoring and assessment and his particular area of expertise lies in the quality assurance/quality control and management of air quality monitoring networks and data. He is also experienced in using ADMS, ADMS Roads, ArcGIS and other tools for air quality dispersion studies. Stephen holds an Honours degree in Physics and is a member of both the Institute of Air Quality Management and the Institute of Environmental Sciences.
Patrick Harland - Air Quality & Odour Management
Patrick Harland is an Air Quality Analyst Consultant in the Evidence & Policy Team, specialising in air quality modelling and analysis. Patrick provides analysis and field work support for odour management and nuisance complaints. Patrick joined the Evidence & Policy team following a Masters in Environmental Engineering and a Bachelors in Medicinal Chemistry from Newcastle University. During the masters Patrick conducted a project examining the impact of large scale events on air quality in Newcastle upon Tyne, examining a wide range of pollutants over an 18 month period. Prior to joining Ricardo Patrick undertook a PGCE in Secondary Mathematics and holds qualified teacher status.
Ella Wingard - Air Quality
Ella Wingard is an Air Quality Analyst Consultant working in
the Evidence & Policy team, specialising in air quality policy, management,
and analysis. Ella provides technical support in stakeholder consultations and
capacity building workshops, as well as analysing data to develop air quality
policy recommendations. Ella has a First-Class Honours in Environmental Science
from the University of Leeds with a study year abroad spent at Queensland
University Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her final year research project
involved analysing the UKESM1 climate model output with Python to investigate
the historical and projected relationship between the stratospheric polar vortex
and Australian climate variability.
Judith Nathanail - Contaminated Land Management
Judith Nathanail is a Director with Land Quality Management Ltd and has over 25 years’ experience in the field of contaminated land management. She has degrees in Geography and Geology from London University and an MSc in Engineering Geology from Imperial College London. She has worked for Wimpey Laboratories, Wimpey Environmental and Delta Simons and joined LQM in 1999. Judith has carried out and project managed numerous phase 1 and phase 2 risk assessments and has extensive field experience in most aspects of site investigation. She has been involved in a range of remediation projects including air sparging and bioremediation. Judith is a co-author of the LQM/CIEH Suitable 4 Use Levels and has worked on various research projects including NanoRem (a EU project on NanoRemediation) and D4S (an innovate UK funded project on renewable energy.
Liz Smith - Anti-social behaviour
Liz Smith has worked in Community Safety and
Housing for 23 years with the last 15 of those years being at Stockport Homes
in Greater Manchester.
Liz is committed to the continuous improvement
of community safety services in Stockport and has been responsible for the
development and implementation of a range of strategies, policies and
procedures relating to crime and ASB, this has recently included the transfer
of private sector casework from the Council and providing a tenure neutral ASB
service across Stockport.
Liz is passionate about customer engagement and
working with residents to help shape services and improving the life chances of
vulnerable victims and perpetrators to ensure that ASB is successfully tackled
and not tolerated.
Ian Marriner - Noise
Ian Marriner is a Director of Price Marriner & Associates Limited, a consultancy specialising in regulatory compliance across a range of disciplines. Ian worked as an Environmental Health Practitioner in local government for over 20 years and had provided consultancy services in the private sector for the last 13 years. Ian is legally qualified and specialises in investigation and enforcement skills training within regulatory enforcement.
Colin Cobbing - Noise
Colin
is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Environmental
Health: Fellow of Institute of Acoustics; and an external examiner for the IOA
He has over 30 years of experience
of taking complex and high-profile projects from inception through planning,
design, build and into operation. He is a leading advocate for human
centred and total design solutions, optimising all aspects design that affect
human health and comfort and which impact on the environment.
He has shaped best practice in
noise assessment and sustainable design and has been integrally involved in the
production of standards and guidance documents that are used in planning and designing
new development. Amongst other things: he has been a long-standing member
of the BSI Committee EH/1/3, which is responsible for BS4142:2014+A1:2019; co-authored a chapter in
‘Uncertainty in Acoustics’, about the management of uncertainty in noise assessment
processes; and was one of a small group of
practitioners who brought the CIEH, IOA and the ANC together to produce
the Professional Practice Guidance: Planning and Noise for New Residential
Development. He was also a core member of the ProPG working
group. He recently co-authored a paper that was published in the
May/ June Acoustics Bulletin on areas of divergence between the ProPG and
the Acoustics, Ventilation and Overheating Guide (published by the IOA and
the ANC).
Mark Roberts - Waste
Mark started working for Ricardo in February 2023, prior to
this he worked for the Environment Agency for 22 years. He spent 15 years
carrying out compliance work at various permitted waste sites and regulated
facilities. During this he gained a range of experience in the planning
and delivery of inspections and audits at waste facilities. He has developed a
wide range and depth of understanding of site management plans and
environmental management systems. He is experienced in reviewing and auditing
written management systems, identifying environmental risks, and resolving
complex compliance issues. Mark worked closely with sites and their operators
to help improve environmental performance. He also worked with EA partners such
as the Fire Service and Local Authority’s tackling complex and high-risk sites,
to resolve compliance issues and design improvement plans. This included
creating written site risk assessments, fire and accident management plans and
off-site receptor plans. Mark is also experienced in preventing and disrupting
waste crime and tackling illegal waste sites.
Michael Campbell - Transport
Michael is a Principal Consultant within the sustainable transport team at Ricardo Energy & Environment, leading and advising on projects for public and private sector customers. Specialist expertise includes the decarbonisation of transport across all sectors, electrification of vehicles and fleets, alternative and renewable fuels, infrastructure requirements, technology appraisal, current and future transport policy, and regulatory compliance. Michael is a chartered engineer with over 20 years’ previous experience in the Automotive and Industrial engineering consultancy of Ricardo in powertrain development, emissions compliance, and CO2 reduction, leading research and development projects for a wide range of automotive and non-automotive clients. This background provides deep understanding of the technical challenges and opportunities for decarbonising vehicles, and of the practicalities of evaluating vehicle performance. Through participation in Zemo partnership and SMMT (industry) working groups, as well as Ricardo projects for a range of public and private sector clients, he keeps up to date with policy and market developments.
Tom Nokes - Transport
Tom is a Senior Consultant in the Sustainable Transport team. He has over six years’ experience as a technical consultant and project manager working on projects addressing climate change and environmental issues, with a focus on sustainable transport and energy. He specialises in corporate and public sector transport decarbonisation, with expert understanding of sustainable transport technologies (i.e. electric, connected, shared), urban mobility, and fleet decarbonisation. As the Net Zero transport lead, Tom frequently provides inputs to Net Zero and sustainability themed strategies. He has held technical lead roles in several studies for both public and private sector clients, taking responsibility for analytical method development, data collection and statistical model delivery in Excel and Python. He is skilled in leading challenging stakeholder engagement activities, with his work on European Commission projects demonstrating an ability to manage and balance the views of different stakeholder groups. Tom’s project experience has also given him an appreciation of financial and economic themes, allowing him to support projects across the value chain from the evidence base through to implementation. He recently achieved a certification for Sustainable Finance from the University of Cambridge.
Jekabs Jursins - Air Quality
Jekabs is an Air Quality Consultant at Ricardo, coming from a background in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Leeds. His main area of expertise is air quality impact assessments for road transport, and air quality and emissions policy in Europe. Most recently, Jekabs has led the technical delivery of projects relating to Local Air Quality Management (LAQM). These include the development of Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs), compilation of Annual Status Reports (ASRs) and conduction stakeholder engagement workshops in developing air quality mitigation measures. He also has experience in the delivery and quality assurance of air quality impact assessments for Low Emission Zones (LEZs). He has recently been appointed as a subcommittee member of the Institute of Air Quality Management’s (IAQM) Early Careers Network (ECN).
Sarah Knapp - Waste and Resource Management
Sarah joined Ricardo’s Energy & Environment’s Waste and Resource
Management Team in October 2022 as a principal consultant. She has worked in
the waste management sector for twenty years, primarily in waste composition
analysis. Sarah is a can-do person. She is very level-headed and not easily
fazed. These qualities and her weighty fieldwork experience make her a valued
and greatly respected waste composition technical expert.
She has managed fieldwork teams of up to 20 analysts across the whole
of the UK and internationally and has recently worked for Defra, WRAP, ReLondon
and Greater Manchester quality assessing the work of their waste composition
contractors. Sarah has worked closely with UK Government to develop waste composition protocols, inventories and Safe Systems of Work and has developed a deep understanding of the wider policy and strategic context of waste and recycling.
