Chair
Matt Sharp
Chief Technical Officer - CGeol, CSci
Hotspur Geothermal (Energy)
2018 - pres.
Matt is currently the Senior Geologist at Hotspur Geothermal, having joined in 2015 after graduating from Durham University. Specialising in early-stage geothermal exploration and development, Matt has worked extensively in Ethiopia and East Africa more broadly, as well as Indonesia and the United Kingdom. He is accredited as a Chartered Geologist and a Chartered Scientist with the Geological Society of London.
Matt is a strong advocate for greater professional development opportunities for early careers geoscientists and when not trying to visit obscure parts of the world, Matt can often be found on the golf course. He joined the founding ECN Committee in 2018 and chaired the group between 2020 and 2024.
Vice Chair
Dan Hope
Senior Consultant
Arcadis (Geotechnics)
2020 - pres.
Dan is a Senior Consultant at Arcadis working in the Ground Investigation team. He completed an MGeol at the University of Leicester in Applied Geology, with a focus on characterisation of metalliferous deposits. On graduation in 2019, Dan started his career in the site investigation industry as a Geotechnician before quickly progressing to a new role as an Engineering Geologist.
Dan has since worked on a range of geotechnical projects for private industry, construction, and railway, and spent several months working at HS2 in the Colne Valley, Buckinghamshire before moving to Arcadis. Dan’s interests include hiking (especially on geological trails!), board games and visits to the pub… often all within the same day! He joined the ECN Committee in 2020 taking on the role of Regional & Specialist Group Liaison, and has also held the positions of Secretary and Vice Chair.
Secretary
Jean-Jaques Ferguson
Exploration Geologist
CGG (Exploration & Mining)
2023 - pres.
Jean-Jacques is an Exploration Geologist within CGG’s Minerals and Mining team working on global- to regional-scale exploration toolsets and global generative exploration projects, with a particular focus on critical minerals. Prior to CGG he worked for Africa-focused junior explorer Altus Strategies supporting business development and royalty acquisitions whilst rotating onto exploration campaigns in Morocco and Egypt where he supported a generative gold project.
Jean-Jacques holds a BSc in Exploration and Resource Geology from Cardiff University and an MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines. He is passionate about supporting early careers in geoscience and, alongside STEM ambassador work, he currently sits on the mentoring committee at the SEG. Outside of geology he can often be found running, hiking, and scrambling in the Eryri mountains. He joined the ECN Committee in 2023 and took on the role of Secretary.
Treasurer
River Adler
Undergraduate Student
University of Portsmouth (Academia)
2023 - pres.
River Stewart is currently an undergraduate geologist studying at the University of Portsmouth. In their first year their studies have taken them across the British Isles, most notably to Loch Glencoul to observe the famous thrust faulting that formed the Caledonian mountains. They have previously worked as a data analyst for Ricardo Environment and Energy, in which they predominantly served on the European Green Cities project.
They are currently looking into offshore industry placements and hold an on-going interest into exploratory geology and planetary geoscience. River joined the ECN Committee in 2023 and took on the role of Treasurer.
Group Liason
Harriet Warnock
Project Civil Engineer
Design ID (Geotechnics)
2022 - pres.
Harriet is a Project Engineer at Design ID Consulting, working in the Civil Engineering team. She graduated from the University of Leicester in 2016 with an MGeol in Geology, before completing an MSc in Environment Engineering and Queen’s University Belfast. Harriet specialises in drainage design, flood risk, and understanding the unique ground conditions at each site, and her professional interests include hydrogeology, sustainability and the environment.
As a Civil Engineer, Harriet wanted to keep up to date with latest news and innovations in the geology industry. She joined the committee in 2022 as she wanted to get more involved and help with the knowledge-sharing and outreach projects that the GSL offer. In her spare time, Harriet enjoys baking celebration cakes and hiking with her goldendoodle, Bonnie.
Ordinary Committee Members
Huw Richards
Senior Exploration Geologist - CGeol, EurGeol
Nordgold (Exploration & Mining)
2018 - pres.
Huw is a Oxfordshire-based Chartered Geologist, currently working for Nordgold in its Global Exploration Department, focusing on regional-scale exploration, project generation and business development / M&A across the Middle East and Africa. In his previous role, he worked for Altus Strategies, an Africa-focused multi-commodity exploration company, providing support for and directly managing a variety of projects within the company's diversified portfolio across Ethiopia, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Morocco and Mali.
Huw holds an MSci in Geoscience from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines. In 2017, he was presented with the Early Career Geologist of the Year award by the Geological Society and has been involved in both the Early Career Professionals Committee of the Society of Economic Geologists and Young Mining Professionals Committee in London. Outside of geology, Huw is a national league hockey umpire officiating within the top domestic tier and was appointed to the 2018 Masters World Cup in Spain. He joined the founding ECN Committee in 2018 and is the longest serving ordinary committee member.
Alex Christopher
Senior Analyst
CRU International (Exploration & Mining)
2020 - pres.
Alex joined CRU International as a Multi-Commodity Analyst in 2021, before which he worked as an Exploration Geologist for a private equity group with global interests. In this role he gained over 2.5 years’ experience in the mineral exploration industry. He has worked on projects across multiple jurisdictions including Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Montenegro and Arizona, and was exposed to several different deposit types and commodities including gold, zinc, lead, silver, nickel, copper and cobalt.
Alex holds an MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter and an MSci in Geoscience with A Year of International Study from Royal Holloway, University of London. His International Year was spent at the University of Toronto. Alex is a keen traveler and enjoys tennis, football and formula one. He joined the ECN Committee in 2020, initially serving as the group's Secretary and later taking on the role of Treasurer until 2023.
Dr. Simon Groom
Consultant Geological Engineer
Fugro (Geotechnics)
2020 - pres.
Simon joined the ECN in the Christmas party season of 2019 and was elected in Q1 of the following year. He comes quite late to the site investigation industry (August 2021), where his time is currently dominated by the HS2 project, having had previous careers in laboratory instrumentation, academic research and teaching, and most recently independent research. He doesn’t like to limit himself to one applied specialism, having worked in field volcanology, petrology, material characterisation and archaeology.
Simon has been based in and around London and the South East for most of his career, working out of Birkbeck, University of London, University College London, and now Fugro in Wallingford. He joined the ECN because while London has several diverse and active geoscience communities, in economic geology, site investigation, outreach and recreational geoscience, they appeared to him quite disparate, and it remains difficult for an early career geoscientist to lock into these communities, contribute to them and see and build on their options. He believes the ECN can provide key forum in this space, joining the ECN Committee in 2020.
Ayesha Landon-Browne
PhD Student
Cambridge University (Academia)
2021 - pres.
Ayesha currently splits her time as a PhD Student at the University of Cambridge and working as an Exploration Geologist in northern Canada. Her academic research is focusing on the use of Pt and Fe stable isotopes on Archean komatiites to further understand early Earth processes including core formation, the late veneer and the delivery of siderophile elements to Earth and the early mantle. Her work as an exploration geologist has taken her to remote parts of British Columbia where she has worked on a porphyry gold deposit and most recently in the Yukon at a Ag-Pb-Zn deposit.
Prior to starting her PhD, Ayesha completed a BSc in Chemistry and Earth Sciences at Carleton University and an MSc in Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa. When she is not in the field or the lab Ayesha likes to go backcountry hiking, probably has a knitting project on the go and making plans to explore the UK, and hopefully Europe. She joined the ECN Committee in 2021.
Joceyln Barker
Senior Associate
PwC (Sustainability)
2023 - pres.
Jocelyn currently works as a Net Zero Transformation Consultant at PwC, with a focus on scope 3 emissions and decarbonising the supply chain. She has worked with major oil and gas clients, central government departments and agriculture. As part of her role, Jocelyn stays up to date with the latest news and regulations within the climate space, understanding how best to influence industry to decarbonise and future proof themselves against climate change.
As someone early in her career journey, Jocelyn is at the same stage as many new ECN members, and believes the forum is so important to knowledge-share, advocate for new career geologists, and open avenues for professional development. Jocelyn graduated from the University of Oxford with an MEarth Sciences; she is a keen cook, walker and rugby fan (having played throughout university). She joined the committee in 2023.
Dr. Awei Mabi
Vice Director - CGeol
Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology (Academia)
2023 - pres.
Awei Mabi, Ph.D., is the vice director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree in geology from Chengdu University of Technology in June 2019. His main area of interest is to study the tectonic evolutional process covering the eastern Tibet plateau, the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and the Yangtze Block.
He was rewarded with Xinjiang University Excellent Postgraduate Thesis for his outstanding research on Hongliuhe ophiolite in the eastern part of CAOB. Awei joined the ECN Committee in 2023.