SNIFFER Staff

Ruth Wolstenholme, MD

Ruth is responsible for leading the company, having been involved in SNIFFER’s growth from a small research coordination role in the early 1990s, to the knowledge broker that it is today. With previous experience in environmental consultancy and with SEPA, Ruth is enabling the company to develop its partnership role across government/agencies and to a wider sector.

Ian Douglas, Finance and Office Manager

Ian is responsible for managing the finance function as well dealing with all matters relating to the day-to-day running of the office. He has had a varied accounting career having worked in a number of public & private sector organizations.

Janet Forbes, UKTAG Coordinator

Janet is the UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG) Coordinator supporting WFD Implementation across the UK and UKTAG/SNIFFER's WFD research programme. Janet has a background in water and waste management having previously worked for Scottish Water and the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme.

June Graham, Project Manager

June is Project Manager for the European Commission funded URBAN-NET project and leads on strategic development. June’s background is in environmental regulation and protection. She has experience in operations, policy and strategy across several themes including the water environment, climate change and energy. June is on secondment from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Diane Foster, Business Manager, N/S Ireland

Diane is based in Lisburn, N. Ireland and is responsible for developing SNIFFER's profile in North and South Ireland. Prior to this role she was the North South Technical Advisory Group Technical Co-ordinator for the WFD for 2 years. Before joining SNIFFER she worked for the Environment Agency and has twelve years experience in river basin planning, implementing EC Directives at a local level and managing research projects.

Julian Holbrook, Programme Coordinator

Julian joined SNIFFER in May 2008 to coordinate the Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership and to provide secretariat services to the Northern Ireland Climate Change Impacts Partnership. Prior to joining SNIFFER, he worked with Scottish Natural Heritage and its predecessors for 18 years on natural heritage trends reporting, environmental indicators, land use strategies, environmental auditing, land cover monitoring and the development of spatial analysis for conservation resource planning.

Kirsty Irving, Programme Manager

Kirsty manages SNIFFER’s sustainable land use and water management topic area and currently manages and delivers projects supporting implementation of the Water Framework Directive and oversees Flood Risk Management work. Before joining SNIFFER Kirsty had 10 years experience in the areas of water resource management and demand forecasting in the UK water industry.

Vanessa Kind, Programme Manager

Vanessa is responsible for managing SNIFFER’s environmental regulation topic area. Previous experiences range from working as a socio-economist for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, to writing a green transport strategy for a hospital, and working on environmental accounts for her native province of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Gina Martin, Programme Coordinator

Gina has managed a number of research programmes since joining SNIFFER in 2003. She has been responsible for managing environmental regulation and Water Framework Directive projects. She is currently on maternity leave. Prior to joining SNIFFER, Gina worked in environmental consultancy for 9 years, providing business support in PPC, contaminated land, EIA and environmental management.

Stephen Midgley, IWRM Project Coordinator

Stephen is a member of the Executive Board for the project and leads in the identification of short and medium term research needs for IWRM-net. Stephen has a background in coastal zone and river basin management including Governance issues, developing strategies and implementing network Initiatives.

Irene McGee, Business Manager, N/S Ireland

Irene is based in Belfast, N. Ireland and is responsible for helping to deliver SNIFFER’s programme of activities and to develop SNIFFER's profile in North and South Ireland. Irene is an architect by profession with a keen interest in sustainable buildings. Before joining SNIFFER Irene won an Invest NI SMART Award to carry out research into wind energy in buildings and she continues to be involved in community wind energy procurement and sustainable architecture . In 2008, Irene was selected as a Challenge Europe Climate Change Advocate, with her project helping to bring the electric car market and sustainable transport to Northern Ireland.

Rachel Peacock, Project Administrator

Rachel is the Project Administrator for the European Commission funded URBAN-NET project and is responsible for the financial management of the project, organising workshops and events and all other project administration. Rachel has previously worked in corporate banking with The Alliance & Leicester Bank and with various private sector and charitable companies, most recently Scottish Human Services Trust.

Helen Simcox, Research Coordinator

Helen coordinates and manages research projects for the Water Framework Directive theme. Helen has a background in fisheries research and environmental data analysis, having previously worked at the Environment Agency, Scottish Executive and University of Edinburgh.

Lynn Moodie, Contracts Manager

Lynn is responsible for managing SNIFFER's procurement service and the structure/development side of SNIFFER's website. Before joining SNIFFER in 2003, Lynn worked with various public and private sector companies.

Paul Sizeland, Programme Manager

Paul manages the Sustainable Places and Climate Change topic areas. Paul’s previous work includes two years managing the URBAN-NET project for SNIFFER, four years as business consultant for SEPA, nine years managing rural and social development projects in Nepal for international aid agencies and ten years land-based forestry and biodiversity work in Scotland for private and charitable companies.

Rebecca Williams, Research Coordinator

Rebecca coordinates and manages research projects for the Environmental Regulation theme. Rebecca’s background is in public and environmental policy research, analysis and development. Prior to joining SNIFFER, Rebecca worked as a consultant to the U.S. government for more than eight years.

Lorraine Fitzgerald, SCCIP Private Sector Officer

Lorraine is the Private Sector Officer for the Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership (SCCIP) responsible for liaising with business and industry on the issue of climate change adaptation. Prior to joining SNIFFER, Lorraine worked in consultancy in Ireland on environmental awareness campaigns and stakeholder consultation projects in the areas of climate change, energy, waste, biodiversity and planning