Meet the team

Founded at Oxford University in 2018, natcap’s team is drawn from a diverse range of industries and specialisms: academia, technology, consulting and more.

We are mission-driven, and committed to using the best available scientific expertise and standards to address our most pressing environmental and social challenges.

We're hiring!

Our advisors

Professor Baroness Kathy Willis

Professor Baroness Kathy Willis

Co-Founder & Non-Executive Director

Kathy is Professor of Biodiversity in the department of Biology, University of Oxford. Her previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee. She was also a Lead Author for the UN’s Global Assessment report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Professor Wouter Buytaert

Professor Wouter Buytaert

Scientific Advisor (Hydrology)

Wouter is Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources at Imperial College London. His research focuses on global development challenges at the interface between hydrological process understanding, water management, and sustainable development. He works extensively with policymakers and end-users, including international organisations such as UNESCO, national and regional governments, as well as NGOs and local communities.

Professor Marc Macias Fauria

Professor Marc Macias Fauria

Scientific Advisor (Biodiversity)

Marc is a Professor of Biogeosciences at the University of Oxford. His research employs ecological records and modelling to understand ecological and biogeographic processes as they are constrained by the physical environment, with a strong emphasis on spatial, process-oriented approaches. He has worked extensively in the Arctic region on a range of environmental research topics, from local to regional.

Judith Batchelar OBE

Judith Batchelar OBE

Strategic Advisory (Food & Beverage)

Judith has spent over 35 years in the food and drink industry, amassing a wealth of expertise, most recently as the Director of Sainsbury’s Brand and Food Matters. She is a Biochemist, nutritionist, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacturers. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to Farming and the Food Industry, and is a Commissioner on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

Our team

Sebastian Leape

CEO

Sebastian leads the natcap team on their mission to accelerate the nature positive transition by integrating nature intelligence into business decision making. Over the last 10 years, his career has been focused on trying to make our economic system more sustainable. Sebastian worked as an Associate Partner at McKinsey, helping businesses and governments define and embed climate and nature strategies into their operations. He has also been a policy advisor, teacher, and researcher.

Dr Beccy Wilebore

Chief Science Officer

Beccy sets the science vision, leads the science team, and overseeing model development. She is a quantitative ecologist with 10+ years of experience of natural capital modelling, including mapping of vegetation and landcover in both the tropics and temperate regions. Beccy holds a PhD in forest ecology and REDD+ from the University of Cambridge.

Tom Ashworth

Chief Technology Officer

Tom leads product and technology at natcap. A leader with experience over decade across big tech (Twitter), renewable energy (Bulb), and biotech (LabGenius), Tom has led teams across customer products, internal & scientific tooling, mobile app development, data management, machine learning, wet-lab automation, project management & delivery, payments, security and more.

Siobhan Stewart

Head of Science Delivery

Siobhan leads the delivery of nature intelligence to end users, bridging the gap between our science and corporate application. Her experience speaks to both specialisms. First at the Capitals Coalition she led multidisciplinary teams to develop technical guidance on natural capital assessments, before spending the next three years at Sillion, a sustainability consultancy advising FTSE 350 companies on all aspects of sustainability strategy.

Charles Shingles

Head of Sales & Partnerships

Charles leads the commercial team at natcap, helping organisations better understand how to embed nature intelligence into a range of business workflows. He was formerly Head of Partnerships at Cervest, where he enabled their clients and partners leverage best-in-class climate and biodiversity intelligence to support their sustainability ambitions. He is an alumni from the University of Cambridge's Institute for Sustainability Leadership, where he studied Business and Climate Change.

Dr Florian Zellweger

Head of Vegetation Carbon

Florian is an environmental scientist whose research uses high-resolution remote sensing and large field databases to understand how forests and natural capital are responding to global change drivers such as climate and land management change. His work furthers the understanding of how the structure, composition and functioning of ecosystems are changing in an increasingly human-dominated world.

Dr Claire Burke

Head of Ecosystem Science

Claire started her career with a PhD in astrophysics, and shortly after decided to come back down to Earth and apply her science skills to the biggest challenges facing humanity today. Throughout her career Claire has worked to solve the unsolvable using interdisciplinary approaches. She has applied physics techniques to climate change; remote sensing and geospatial technology to financial risk; and astrophysics combined with machine learning to conservation ecology. Claire now leads the development of our ecosystem science at natcap.

Dr Robert Allen

Principal Scientist (Agriculture)

Robert is a applied data scientist skilled in using agronomy to develop agricultural benchmarking and forecasting solutions. He uses the science of crop physiology as a framework to create robust on-farm and supply chain tools, using integrated commercial crop, experimental and environmental data sources. Robert also has practical experience of managing small-plot and field scale trials programs. He is a Nuffield Farming Scholar who visited Australia, Canada, USA and Russia studying how agricultural businesses can benefit from adoption of data technologies. Robert obtained his PhD in Palaeoglaciology and Palaeoclimatology from the University of Bristol.

Dr Rhosanna Jenkins

Lead Modeller (Biodiversity)

Rhosanna is an interdisciplinary scientist with extensive experience of spatial analysis and modelling. Her academic background ranges from climate change impact analysis and nature recovery to low carbon energy innovation and sustainable tourism. She was a chapter scientist and contributing author to Working Group II's contribution to the IPCC's sixth assessment report.

Dr Lea Dambly

Modeller (Biodiversity)

Lea is a quantitative ecologist who is interested in modelling spatio-temporal trends of biodiversity and is experienced in model-based data integration. She has obtained her PhD at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and University College London, which focuses on improving the understanding and use of biased biodiversity monitoring data.

Dr Lorna Burnell

Lead Modeller (Hydrology)

Lorna Burnell specialises in hydrological modelling and has considerable experience in spatial data analysis. She holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham, which examined the risks to global water resources from geoengineering the climate with solar radiation management, with a particular focus on water scarcity and drought assessment.

Dr Thea Piovano

Lead Modeller (Hydrology)

Thea Piovano is an environmental modeller, specialized in hydrology. She has been working at natcap since 2019 and has extensive experience in modelling and geospatial data analysis. Her background is in Environmental Engineering, as she obtained an MSc in Environmental Protection from Politecnico di Torino.

Amelia Jeffery

Modeller (Biodiversity)

Amelia graduated with a MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford. Amelia’s previous experience includes research on the socioecological behaviour of primates in Pilar, Paraguay and as a research analyst with the Silk Road Society evaluating debt-for-nature swaps in the Belt and Road Initiative.

David Shen

Modeller (Carbon)

David is part of the carbon modelling team at natcap, where he models carbon sequestration in vegetation and soils. Prior to joining natcap, he worked as a postgraduate research associate at Yale University's Centre for Biodiversity and Global Change, modelling biodiversity across North America to aid US federal conservation policy.

Tom Stokes

Senior Software Engineer

Tom is part of the engineering team at natcap, helping to develop technical solutions in response the global Nature Crisis. He has previously worked in a ClimateTech startup and IT consultancy, work which has spanned the entire software development lifecycle. He holds a MSci Physics from Imperial College London.

Dr Simon Eberz

Senior Software Engineer

Simon is part of the engineering team at natcap. Having studied Computer Science in Germany, Sweden and the UK, Simon completed a PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. In his research, he applied machine learning to various cybersecurity problems. During his time at Oxford, he also worked as a consultant for different technology companies, bridging the gap between academia and industry application.

Emily Selwood

Senior Software Engineer

Emily is a Senior Software Engineer in the engineering team at natcap, she has spent over 15 years as a software engineer in a range of industries from telecoms to the space sector and worked on many projects from satellite ground stations to web analytics systems and climate resilience platforms for pacific islands.