Meet the Committee

Geologist at Tarmac

Hydrogeologist at AtkinsRéalis

Ellen is a Hydrogeologist currently working at AtkinsRéalis in water management consultancy. Ellen contributes to a wide variety of groundwater resource management and infrastructure projects. Prior to joining AtkinsRéalis, Ellen worked as a Hydrogeologist at TOBIN Consulting Engineers in Ireland and completed a Woman in Mining internship as a Discovery Geologist at Anglo American. 

Ellen is a Chartered Water and Environment Manager with CIWEM. Ellen holds a BA Mod Geology from Trinity College Dublin and an MSc Hydrogeology from University of Birmingham. Ellen hopes the ECN will serve as a way for increased networking amongst early careers from a variety of disciplines. 

In her spare time Ellen plays gaelic football with and is the Secretary of her local team in London. 

Carlisle is a Senior Geotechnician at Geowynd, bringing experience in geotechnical site investigations, field operations, and laboratory testing. Previously, he worked as a Field and Core Logging Engineer at Fugro, supporting onshore and offshore site investigations, and as a Geotechnical Laboratory Engineer at Geolabs Limited, where he gained experience in soil and rock testing, quality assurance, and laboratory operations. His combined field and laboratory background provides a strong understanding of geotechnical workflows, from site data acquisition and sample logging to testing, data processing, and project delivery.

Courtney Garbutt is a Ground Engineer at Arup, working across a range of geo-environmental and general ground engineering projects. Her experience covers both onshore and offshore work, including ground investigation reporting, risk assessment, geological interpretation, seabed characterisation, geohazards and GIS. She has a growing interest in digital geoscience and using new tools to understand and communicate complex ground conditions. 

Sustainability Consultant at Satarla

Jocelyn currently works as a Sustainability Consultant at Satarla, with a large focus on the Minerals and Mining industry, whose work has centred on sustainable transformation, leveraging her knowledge of the reporting landscape. ​With a Master’s degree in Earth Sciences, she has worked across both private and public sectors to produce ESG reports, assess the sustainability maturity of organisations, and develop strategies and roadmaps to achieve sustainability goals. She has a strong interest in understanding how reporting and risk can most effectively inform strategy and drive meaningful and long-term change. 

Senior Geotechnical Engineer at GDG (Venterra Group)

Lucy is based in Edinburgh as a Senior Geotechnical Engineer at GDG (Venterra Group). Lucy recently moved into this role after just over six years at her previous company, Fairhurst. Lucy has experienced a blend of site supervision, design work and project management on projects including St Helena Rockfall Mitigation Scheme, Cross Tay Link Road Geotechnical Design and the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment Scheme.

Geoscientist at Hotspur Helium

Will is a Natural Catastophe Modeller at Beazley, working with their Exposure Management team to predict future natural disasters and their potential threat to global infrastructure. He has previously worked as a Geoscientist with Red Rose Resources on the early-stage development of geothermal heat projects in Kenya and Tanzania and international helium exploration projects. He completed an MSci degree in Geophysics at the University of Bristol in 2024, producing a published Masters thesis on dynamic modelling of debris flows in the Italian Alps. 

Having recently graduated and started his professional journey, Will is aware of the challenges that many geoscientists face at the early stages of their career paths and believes the ECN forum plays an important role in providing helpful advice and connecting geoscientific communities. In his free time, Will enjoys baking, playing badminton, running, and hiking, especially in new places around the UK and internationally.

PhD Student at Cambridge University

Ayesha is currently finishing up her PhD in isotope geochemistry constraints on early Earth mantle differentiation events at the University of Cambridge. Prior to starting her PhD Ayesha completed her MSc and BSc in Canada and worked as an geologist in northern Canadain several green and brownfields exploration projects for various mineral deposit types.

Ayesha will also represent the ECN on the Science Committee (starting June 2025) and is keen to support the ECN in their activities and make recently graduate geologists aware of the opportunities and support the Geological Society can provide.

 Outside of academia Ayesha enjoys hiking, cooking, and a good knitting project. Post-PhD she is keen to re-enter the mineral exploration industry as a geologist.

Vice Director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology

Awei Mabi, PhD, 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.

Graduate Geotechnical Engineer at AECOM

Ellie is a Graduate Engineering Geologist at AECOM in Swindon. She started as a Trainee in Summer 2023 and has worked on over thirty mid to large scale projects within the Ground Investigation team since joining. Much of her site experience is on rail projects, but she has worked on a number of large-scale brownfield redevelopment and greenfield survey projects.

River is a PhD candidate at Heriot-Watt University as a member of the South East Asia Research Group, based in the Edinburgh area. Their project, "Sundaland Reimagined: The Reconstruction of a Lost Cenozoic Continent" focuses on tectonic and palaeogrographic reconstruction of the submerged Sunda Shelf.

In summer 2026, River graduated from the University of Portsmouth achieving First Class with honours. During this time they were able to complete a range of field expeditions, including a field mapping project in Ouro Preto, Brazil, in summer 2024. In 2024-2025 they completed an industrial placement with Gardline (Boskalis) working as an offshore geophysicist.

Outside of the ECN, River has a passion for ornithology, working with the British Ornithologists' Union. They joined the committee in November 2023.