Contact Dr Katy Wiltshire
Areas of expertise
- Computing, Simulation & Modelling
- Soil
- Sustainable Land Systems
Background
Dr Katy Wiltshire holds a BSc in Physic with Astrophysics and an MSc in Applied Geophysics from The University of Birmingham. Her PhD was carried out at Cranfield and assessed the source and delivery processes of organic carbon transfer across the terrestrial-to-aquatic continuum using a combined sediment fingerprinting and carbon loss modelling approach. Between the completion of her MSc and beginning her PhD at Cranfield, Katy spent many years in industry as a software engineer and data analyst. Katy is a researcher and modeller interested in optimising catchment land use for ecosystem services, biodiversity, water quality, and soil and carbon management. Her cross-disciplinary research includes soil science, biogeochemistry, sediment fingerprinting, and environmental modelling including models for carbon loss and erosion, agroforestry, and climate mitigation within agriculture.
Research opportunities
Next generation, user-friendly environmental modelling with particular emphasis on climate mitigation and net zero scenarios within agriculture.
Current activities
Katy's previous work contributed to the delivery of Cranfield's work in water and waterway engineering and materials science in the EPSRC-funded project 'Improved prediction of cohesive sediment erosion based on inter-particle forces'. This research aimed to provide a means to predict the effects of sediment properties and water chemistry on erosion thresholds. Following this, Katy was an Agroforestry Modeller as part of the BEIS funded BIOFORCE (BIOmass FORestry CrEation) project, aimed at creating geospatial data systems to upscale national forestry-based biomass production. Katy's current role is within a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship work programme on ‘Reframing non-CO2 climate mitigation approaches to limit global warming.’ This programme will develop methodologies to accurately evaluate the effect that mitigating short lived pollutants has on climate change, from the underpinning scientific research through to development of open access tools for decision makers to use. The role primary involves development of a next generation, user-friendly farm model to be used to investigate ambitious climate mitigation scenarios within agriculture, whilst balancing other essential needs such as food production and other environmental goals.
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Wiltshire K, Meersmans J, Waine TW, Grabowski RC, Thornton B, .... (2024). Evaluating erosion risk models in a Scottish catchment using organic carbon fingerprinting. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 24(8)
- Wiltshire C, Waine T, Grabowski RC, Meersmans J, Thornton B, .... (2023). Assessing n-alkane and neutral lipid biomarkers as tracers for land-use specific sediment sources. Geoderma, 433(May)
- Wiltshire K, Glendell M, Waine T, Grabowski RC & Meersmans J. (2022). Assessing the source and delivery processes of organic carbon within a mixed land use catchment using a combined n-alkane and carbon loss modelling approach. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 22(5)