Meet the team
Meet the Decolonising Earth Science team! We are a diverse range of scholars and practitioners from Earth Scientists to Historians, from academics, to those working for grassroots organisations to professional societies.
Dr Rebecca Williams
Project lead
Rebecca is a Reader in Earth Science (Volcanology) at the University of Hull. Rebecca’s career has had a teaching focus, developing expertise in the practise of embedding equality, diversity and inclusivity in curriculum design. Rebecca’s research in this area seeks to understand the links between the colonial legacy of Earth Science, the pedagogy of our discipline and inequities in the access, retention and success of diverse student cohorts. Building on Rebecca’s time as an Associate Dean for Student Experience in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Rebecca’s practice seeks to effect positive change in Higher Education, with a particular focus on the Earth Sciences across the sector. Rebecca holds the EDI portfolio for University Geoscience UK and was the EDI-lead for the QAA E3 Subject Benchmark Statement.
Professor Trevor Bernard
Trevor is the Wilberforce Professor of Slavery and Emancipation and Director of the Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull.
Trevor is a scholar of early American, imperial, world and Atlantic history, with a special interest in plantation societies in the New World and their connections to eighteenth-century modernity.
Particular interests include slavery, social history and demography, imperialism, economic and business history, and gender.
Dr Natasha Dowey
Natasha is Associate Professor of Sustainable Geoscience at Sheffield Hallam University. Natasha is a trustee of the charity Geology for Global Development, sits on council for the Geological Society of London, and leads the outreach initiative Geoscience for the Future. Alongside her research into explosive volcanic hazards, Natasha works on collaborative projects to improve equity, diversity and inclusion in Earth and environmental sciences.
Dr Nicholas Evans
Nick is Senior Lecturer in diaspora history at the School of Humanities. He is also an academic in the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull. Nick uses the fruits of his academic research on voluntary and coerced migration to, through and from Britain to empower religious and ethnic minority communities both at home and abroad.
Dr Jacqueline Houghton
Jacqueline is an Associate Professor of Geoscience Education at the University of Leeds.
Jacqueline focuses on exploring, developing and disseminating good practice in inclusive geoscience teaching, with a particular emphasis on fieldwork, and in advocating for equality, diversity and inclusion across the discipline.
Jacqueline is co-founder and co-chair of Diversity in Geoscience, UK (DiG-UK) a charitable organisation that promotes equitable access in geoscience. DiG-UK aims to improve equality, diversity and inclusivity within the UK geosciences by raising awareness of the challenges faced by underrepresented groups, and by working with educators and employers to support the development of a more accessible, diverse and inclusive geoscience community.
George Jameson
George is the Higher Education & EDI Lead at The Geological Society.
Dr Anya Lawrence
Anya is an Early Career Researcher currently based at the University of Hull and the University of Birmingham.
Anya has a multidisciplinary research background that includes geography, earth and environmental sciences, social sciences and equality, diversity, and accessibility advocacy. Anya has taken an unconventional path through academia, involving distance learning, working in HR and project management. With the lived experience of an intersectional identity, Anya is keen to improve equality, diversity and inclusion across the higher education sector.
Dr M. Satish Kumar
Satish, is a Senior Lecturer in Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology and a Fellow of Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queens University Belfast.
His research is grounded in the field of colonial, postcolonial and decolonial geographies of South Asia with a close affinity to social sciences and humanities promoting SDGs.
With a multidisciplinary training in economics, geography, regional and urban development, Satish has more than 32 years of engagement with the HE in India and the UK. His current research focuses on the issue of decolonisation, heritage and development covering both the historical and contemporary questions and working with teams in India, UK and the USA.
Dr Keely Mills
Keely is a Senior International Development Geoscientist at the British Geological Survey. On a 2-year secondment to the BGS Executive Function as a Senior Strategic Scientist, Keely has been working to support the BGS Senior Management in delivery of the Business Plan, Annual Report and BGS Evaluation, with a particular focus on the EDI portfolio.
Dr Munira Raji
Munira is an interdisciplinary Geoscientist at the Sustainable Earth Institute, University of Plymouth.
Munira’s research interests lie at the intersection of geoscience, diplomacy, and sustainable development, with a particular focus on Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa regions.
Munira uses their geoscience and science diplomacy expertise to facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange among a diverse range of stakeholders, including geoscientists, policymakers, and multilateral organisations.
Munira advocates for equality and inclusion of Black and Africa Geoscientists within the geoscience community through grassroots Black In Geoscience and African Geoscientists virtual communities founded with the mission to decolonise geoscience, facilitate networking and create visibility for Black people in Earth and Planetary Science.
Dr Steve Rogers
Steve is a Senior Lecturer in Geology at Keele University.
After a pretty typical journey through undergraduate and PhD in Earth Science Steve started to work at the boundaries of the ‘traditional’ discipline of geology. Steve has become increasingly involved in education, scholarly and pedagogic pursuits and is particularly interested in curriculum design and development, Education for Sustainability and immersive learning.
Through studying for an MA (in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) Steve undertook training in a range of qualitative methodologies and theories, this led to the recognition that many of the social elements of geology, including certain human, political, economic and educational aspects are anecdotal, or not fully understood.
Over the last few years Steve has been working in an interdisciplinary space, which if he were to name it, would be “Social Geology”.
Dr Catherine Souch, DSc
Catherine is the Head of Research and Higher Education at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).
