Catherine Baldwin

I am a DPhil candidate on the RIV-ESCAPE project, researching CO2 and CH4 emissions from UK peatland streams. My work investigates how disturbance processes such as anthropogenic land use and wildfires influence river carbon supply and emissions in peatlands, which are highly sensitive environments. As well as measuring the emissions directly, I use a novel combination of radiocarbon and stable isotope techniques to establish the age, source, and drivers of these greenhouse gases. I am also interested in the use of geospatial data and remote sensing to further constrain the magnitude and drivers of these processes.

I am particularly interested in the impacts of land use on biogeochemical cycles, particularly in upland environments. Before starting at Oxford, I studied BSc Environmental Science at the University of Exeter (2018), where I completed an independent final year project on post-industrial ecosystem establishment in disused slate quarries in Eryri National Park. I completed an MSc in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management at King's College London (2020), with a dissertation on remote sensing of peatland wildfires. I then worked in geoscience data management at CGG, then in operations management in the adventure tourism industry for several years, before returning to academia to begin my DPhil.