Dr Roger Hyam, Digital Information Development Officer
I have a background in botany - gaining an MSc and PhD in taxonomy in the late 1990s. After spending a period working as a commercial software engineer at the turn of the century I combined my taxonomy and information technology skills to started working in the field of biodiversity informatics. My work ranges from developing mobile phone apps to collaborating on information exchange standards to data driven research based on remote sensing data.
When I set out as biologist in the 1980s my motivation was to help conserve the biodiversity of the world by increasing our understanding of it. Over the last thirty years there has been little sign of any slow down in biodiversity loss. It is clear that this loss is caused by human behaviour and so my research interests have moved more towards quantifying our relationship with the natural world. I am using data driven research to study how our need for a connection with nature (biophilia) relates to our health and ultimately our pro-enviromental behaviours.