People
Collaborators and Volunteers
FreshwaterLife is an online freshwater interest community. As such the most important people are the collaborators and volunteers who work together, with us, to create the website and its content. There are currently over 650 registered participants, 40 editors and numerous organisations contributing to FreshwaterLife.
The FreshwaterLife Core Group
The Core Group acts as a steering committee and advises FreshwaterLife on policy and strategy. The Core Group includes founders and representatives from partner and funding organisations. Click here to find out more about the Core Group.
The FreshwaterLife team
FreshwaterLife is housed by the Freshwater Biological Association and team members are FBA staff. Not all team members work full-time on FreshwaterLife, but they are all dedicated to the continued success of this collaborative project.
Dr Anne Powell OBE – FreshwaterLife Manager
Dr Anne Powell has many years experience working in the freshwater world. She has served on a wide range of committees including the English Nature Council, the board of the Environment Agency for England and Wales, the Freshwater Biological Association council and the council of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. As well as managing FreshwaterLife she currently sits on the National Trust’s conservation panel and is Chairperson for Cumbria Wildlife Trust. She received her OBE in 2001 for services to conservation, and as one of the founders of FreshwaterLife, has managed the project since its inception.
Kearon McNicol – Senior Officer
Kearon graduated from Sheffield University with an honours degree in Animal and Plant Biology and went on to do a masters in Environmental Resource Management. He was the first paid staff member and has used his IT knowledge to guide the development of the IT systems which make FreshwaterLife possible. He aids Anne with strategy and fundraising, and coordinates the activities of FreshwaterLife.
Ian Pettman – Technical Advisor
Ian has been involved in FreshwaterLife since the beginning and is one of the project founders. He has a long history in information management having been head librarian at the FBA for many years. He has contributed to advances in information exchange, such as the Z39.50 protocol. He currently works as a consultant (when he's not helping out at the FBA or on FreshwaterLife), and has contracts with international organisations such as the UN FAO, helping them develop their information architecture.
Simon Pawley – Technical Officer
Simon joined the FreshwaterLife team as a volunteer in July 2004 after graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a BSc (hons) in Ecological Resource Management. He became a member of staff in May 2005. Simon is responsible for the design of the FreshwaterLife digital key software and for many of the multimedia keys FreshwaterLife has under development, including the electronic version of the FBA fish key. He is one of the two officers working on the Recorders and Schemes Project and also works on aspects of the Image Archive and the Ecological Database.
Julie McNicol – Administrative Support
Julie started working with FreshwaterLife in April 2005. She manages the day to day finances, work-programme and administration, and keeps everyone in order!
Louise Miles – FreshwaterLife Officer
Louise has been with FreshwaterLife since March 2006. She graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a BSc (hons) in Zoology. Louise is responsible for building the online FreshwaterLife community by recruiting editors, encouraging participation and information exchange. She also contributes directly to the content by creating and restructuring topics areas and adding items which we hope users find interesting! In addition, Louise is helping to develop Collaborative Workspaces (areas of FreshwaterLife dedicated to, and managed by external organisations) and the FreshwaterLife Image Archive.
Dr Melanie Fletcher – Promotions and Fundraising Officer
Mel joined the team in July 2006. She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (hons) in Aquatic Bioscience. She has recently completed her PhD “Assessing fluctuating asymmetry in stoneflies as a biomonitoring tool”, and is now working on the Recorders and Schemes Project with Simon. Mels’ main duties include producing materials and courses to support professionals and people with an interest in freshwater organisms and habitats. She also organises promotion events and general awareness raising. Not least, Mel has input into maintaining and improving the quality of FreshwaterLife and FBA products.
Salman Elahi – Software Developer
Salman also joined the FreshwaterLife team in the autumn of 2006. He and Xin were recruited to help FreshwaterLife advance its software infrastructure and take advantage of new technologies to provide a better service to FreshwaterLife users. In particular, Salman and Xin were recruited because of their relevant knowledge for the development of the Ecological Database. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a masters in Informatics (majoring in Knowledge Management and Engineering). He shares the responsibility for maintaining and developing the suite of FreshwaterLife tools, always with the mantra – ‘keep it simple’.
My FreshwaterLifeTM
