Natalie Small
BSc (Hons) MSc FRGS
Research Associate
- smallncardiff.ac.uk
- +44(0) 29 2087 9631
- 2.02A, Sustainable Places Research Institute, 33 Park Place
Overview
Natalie Small is a Research Associate at the Sustainable Places Research Institute. She has an extensive background in GIS and has demonstrable experience in both the academic and commercial sector.
Her research focuses on using GIS to examine freshwater ecosystem services, valuation and land use change. Currently, she is the GIS analyst on the Duress project (http://nerc-duress.org/). This work has involved utilising hydrological tools in GIS to perform spatial analysis, produce mapped outputs for the Duress site catchments, and to perform vector and raster based analysis for the Duress land-use change scenarios work package. Additionally, Natalie's research also focuses on the valuation of cultural ecosystem services. This involves exploring both monetary and non-monetary methods, the interface between them and identifying challenges facing cultural service valuation.
Biography
Natalie graduated from the University of Reading in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Human and Physical Geography. In 2009, she completed an MSc in Environmental Conservation Management. From that point and the following four years Natalie worked in the commercial sector where she developed extensive expertise in GIS and the application of spatial analysis techniques. Additionally, Natalie has experience working within inter-disciplinary teams and leading ecosystem service related projects demonstrating her GIS capabilities.
Medcalf, K., Small, N., Finch, C., Williams, J., Blair, T., Haines-Young, R., Potschin, M., Parker, J., 2014. Further development of a spatial framework for mapping ecosystem services, JNCC Report 514, ISSN 0963 8901. Available at: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-6690
Medcalf, K., Small, N., Finch, C. and Parker, J., 2012. Spatial framework for assessing evidence needs for operational ecosystem approaches. A report produced by Environment Systems for the JNCC: Report number 469. http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-6241.
Small, N., Medcalf, K., Elliott, R., and Finch, C., 2011. Modelling ecosystem services: a Welsh context, paper presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (UK Chapter), Telford, 6-8 September 2011.
Speaking engagements
Small, N., 2013. SCCAN – understanding our environment to value biodiversity related ecosystem services. Presentation delivered at the IEEM Spring Conference, Birmingham, 20th March 2013.
Small, N., 2011. Modelling ecosystem services: a Welsh context. Presentation delivered at Iale 18th Annual Conference of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (UK Chapter), Telford, 6-8 September 2011.
Teaching
Natalie has assisted and co-taught on the practical GIS courses (QGIS and ArcGIS) run by the Cardiff Graduate College. Additionally, she provides GIS support to students and other researchers under the Duress project.
Natalie is a GIS analyst on the NERC-BESS funded Duress (Diversity of upland rivers for ecosystem service sustainability) project (http://nerc-duress.org/). The project is investigating how organisms and ecosystem functions maintain river ecosystem services and is testing the overarching hypothesis that, "Biodiversity is central to the sustainable delivery of upland river ecosystem services under changing land-use and climate".
Natalie's work involves utilising hydrological tools in GIS to perform spatial analysis, produce mapped outputs for the Duress site catchments, and to perform vector and raster based analysis for the Duress land-use change scenarios work package. Through this work, she has demonstrated her ability in developing pragmatic spatial approaches (using a rule-base and GIS), to translate qualitative scenarios to highlight how land-cover change may occur within the Duress catchments.