Professional History

Associate Director (Biodiversity Net Gain), Ethos Environmental Planning, Bath, September 2020 – present

• I am the company lead for biodiversity net gain and wider environmental net gain. This includes working with developers to maximise biodiversity net gain for their projects, as well as working with landowners and land managers to deliver biodiversity enhancement so on their land.

• I provide consultancy services to Local Authorities to help them prepare for the mandatory requirement for biodiversity net gain by developing strategies and business plans.

• I provide training, both internally and externally on biodiversity net gain. This includes delivery of CIEEM training on use of the DEFRA net gain metric 2.0.

• I also have a role in projects on wider environmental net gain and natural capital, for both Local Planning Authorities and developer clients.

Projects Manager, Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre, Oxford, March 2016 – September 2020

• I was the scientific and technical lead for the records centre, ensuring that all our work is based on the most appropriate and up-to-date science and technology to deliver services to customers.

• I developed and delivered a range of mapping and data analysis projects for a variety of customers, including local authorities and conservation NGOs, using GIS (MapInfo, ArcGIS, QGIS) and data science (R) approaches.

• I was responsible for line managing four staff who carry out field surveys, project work and manage TVERC’s volunteer programme four within a framework of regular meetings where performance is assessed

• I promoted the work of TVERC and Local Environmental Records Centres by giving conference presentations.

• I chaired the Berkshire Local Nature Partnership from 2018 - 2020, helping to coordinate conservation action and communications across the county.

Biodiversity Officer, Parks & Countryside Service, Bracknell Forest Council, Bracknell, March 2013 – March 2016

• I was responsible for delivering high quality biodiversity advice to the planning department, for both development management and planning policy. I delivered land management advice and carried out species and habitat surveys for the Council’s Parks & Countryside Service and I coordinated the delivery of the local Biodiversity Action Plan.

• I project-managed the enhancement of green spaces owned by the Council to meet Natural England’s standards for Suitable Alternative Natural Green Spaces with a budget of over £100,000 annually. This required the specification, procurement, contracting and supervising of projects to enhance green spaces, including path installation and upgrade, habitat works and interpretation signs.

Post-doctoral Research Assistant, Soil Biodiversity Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, July 2009 – January 2013,

• I managed landscape scale biodiversity surveys of the New Forest and Sabah, Malaysia. Duties include: survey design and planning; budget management; organising and carrying out fieldwork, including health and safety; species identification; managing a team of volunteers in the field and lab; data analysis; report writing and public engagement activities.

Research Assistant, Centre for Agri-Environment Research, University of Reading, March 2009 – June 2009,

• Research Assistant on a project called SOILSERVICE looking at the impacts of land use and climate change on soil ecosystem services. Duties include experiment design, construction and implementation, soil sampling and sample sorting.

Researcher, Burnham Beeches NNR, Corporation of London, December 2008 – February 2009,

• Researcher investigating the effect of wood ants on other invertebrates. I wrote a literature review of interactions between wood ants and other woodland invertebrates.

Education

PhD Soil Science, University of Reading / Natural History Museum, London, October 2004 – December 2008,

Thesis title: The role of earthworms in the chemical and physical weathering of soil minerals. I established the first evidence that earthworms accelerate soil mineral weathering in a series of laboratory experiments, combing X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to demonstrate this.

BSc (Hons.) Wildlife Conservation, University of East London, awarded 2.1 September 2000 – June 2004,

Dissertation title: The effect of vegetation heterogeneity on the diversity of soil and leaf litter invertebrates in the UK. I gained a solid foundation in ecology and conservation, including the political and legal aspects of conservation. The course placed a great emphasis on species identification and I gained skills in plant, invertebrate and bird identification. I also gained skills and experience in a variety of sampling techniques in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats and GIS systems.

Professional Qualifications

Chartered Environmentalist, awarded by the Society for Biology, March 2019

Publications

Wolseley P, Sanderson N, Thüs H, Carpenter D, Eggleton P. 2017. Patterns and drivers of lichen species composition in a NW-European lowland deciduous woodland complex. Biodiversity and Conservation 26 (2), 401-419

Hodson ME, Black S, Brinza L, Carpenter D, Lambkin DC, Mosselmans JFW, Palumbo-Roe B, Schofield PF, Sizmur T, Versteegh EAA. 2014. Biology as an agent of chemical and mineralogical change in soil. Procedia Earth and Planetary Science 10, 114-117

Carpenter D, Sherlock E, Sandhu R, Eggleton P. 2013. Differences in nest structure influence the importance of Formica rufa group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) wood ant nests as refugia for earthworms. Journal of Natural History 47 (35-36), 2305-2309

Carpenter D, Hammond PM, Sherlock E, Lidgett A, Leigh K, Eggleton P. 2012. Biodiversity of soil macrofauna in the New Forest: a benchmark study across a national park landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation 21 (13), 3385-3410

Carpenter D, Sherlock E, Jones DT, Chiminoides J, Writer T, Neilson R, Boag B, Keith AM, Eggleton P. 2012. Mapping of earthworm distribution for the British Isles and Eire highlights the under-recording of an ecologically important group. Biodiversity and Conservation 21, 475 - 485

Sherlock E. & Carpenter D. 2009. An updated earthworm list for the UK and two new ‘exotic’ species new to Britain from Kew Gardens. European Journal of Soil Biology 45 (5-6), 431-435.

Carpenter D, Hodson ME, Eggleton P & Kirk C. 2008. The role of earthworm communities in soil mineral weathering: a field experiment. Mineralogical Magazine 72(1), 33-36

Carpenter D, Hodson ME, Eggleton P & Kirk C. 2007. Earthworm induced mineral weathering: Preliminary results. European Journal of Soil Biology 43, S176-183