Meet the Team

Dr. Natasha Dowey

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Natasha is leading the DLA-Funded Equator 2025 project together with Prof. Sam Giles. Natasha was principal investigator on the original NERC-funded Equator 2022 project and was on the steering committee of Equator 2.0 in 2023-24. She is Associate Professor of Sustainable Geoscience at Sheffield Hallam University. She founded the Geoscience for the Future outreach initiative and is trustee of the charity Geology for Global Development.

Prof. Sam Giles

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Sam is leading the DLA-funded Equator 2025 project together with Dr. Natasha Dowey. Sam was co-Investigator on the NERC-funded Equator 2022 project, and led the Birmingham-funded Equator 2.0 project. She is a Professor of Palaeobiology and Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Sam has helped develop resources to make fieldwork more inclusive and has advocated for better practice in recruitment.

Representing the Equator community and previous Equator project teams:

Millicent Harding

Millicent is a PhD student at Durham University researching how the treeline is changing across the Fennoscandian Arctic using a range of techniques from fieldwork, ecology, modelling, and remote sensing to investigate change. She is the early career researcher Co-Chair of the Diversity in Polar Science Initiative steering committee (DiPSI), member-at-large on the UK Polar Network committee (and EDI Officer 2022-24), and is a previous Equator participant.

Jordan O. Lafayette

Jordan is an environmental social scientist. He studied for his PhD at Lancaster University and is a postdoctoral research fellow in sustainable development at the University of Nottingham. He is the Chair of the British Ecological Society’s Racial Equality and Ethnic Diversity (REED) Network, has written about decolonising university admissions, and has engaged in EDI outreach including the Natural History Museum Explorer’s Programme. Jordan has previously been both an Equator participant and mentor.

Dr Anya Lawrence

Dr. Anya Lawrence coordinated the Mentoring Network of the NERC-funded Equator 2022 project and the Equator 2023-4 project.  Anya has a range of research interests ranging from rock magnetics, geochemistry, structural geology to transformative emancipatory research, understanding of the intersection of different types of identification and accessibility advocacy. As an intersectional individual, Anya is determined to help improve EDI in academia.

Dr. Marissa Lo

Marissa studied Geology at Durham University, before completing a Master’s degree in Volcanology at Lancaster University and a PhD in Planetary Science at the University of Manchester. She worked for the Geological Society of London as Associate Editor of Geoscientist before becoming an English Editor at MDPI in April 2025. Marissa has previously been both a participant and a speaker in Equator interventions.

Dr. Munira Raji

Munira is Sustainable Geoscience Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth. She was on the project team of the NERC-funded Equator 2022 project. She co-founded the Black in Geoscience network and is a member of the European Geoscience Union (EGU) Equality Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Working Group. Munira serves on the Society for Exploration Geophysicists Sustainability Committee and the Energy Group Committee of the Geological Society of London.

Prof. Sarah Greene

Sarah is Director of the Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA3) Doctoral Landscape Award, and co-led the Equator 2023-4 project. She is Professor of Palaeoclimates at the University of Birmingham. Sarah has led development of open access resources to make geoscience fieldwork more inclusive and champions equitable recruitment practices. She is a senior mentor in the ECR women-led Palaeoscientometrics research collective.

Prof. Chris Jackson

Chris was co-Investigator on the NERC-funded Equator 2022 project, while Chair in Sustainable Geoscience at the University of Manchester. He was also on the steering committee of Equator 2.0. Chris is now Technical Director of Subsurface Storage at WSP. He is a Founding Trustee of the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation.

Dr. Rebecca Williams

Rebecca was co-investigator on the NERC-funded Equator Project (2022), and was on the steering committee of Equator 2.0. She is Reader in Volcanology at the University of Hull. Rebecca was the EDI lead for the Earth Science, Environmental Science and Environmental Studies QAA Subject Benchmark review (2021) and holds the EDI Portfolio on the University Geoscience UK Executive.

Representing EDI Expertise / Professional Bodies / Partner Organisations:

Sally Hughes

Higher Education Lead, The Institution of Environmental Sciences

Dr. Jacqueline Houghton

Co-Chair and co-Founder, Diversity in Geoscience, and UK and Associate Professor at University of Leeds

Sadaf Jafri

Training and Recruitment EDI Officer, Crocus Doctoral Landscape Award

George Jameson

Higher Education & EDI Lead at the Geological Society of London

Dr. Anjana Khatwa

Earth Scientist specialising in strategic planning for learning, engagement and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Dr. Keely Mills

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at the British Geological Survey

Francisca Rockey

Founder and Director, Black Geographers

Dr. Steven Rogers

Senior Lecturer in Geology, School of Life Sciences, Keele University

Dr. Catherine Souch

Head of Research and Higher Education at the Royal Geographical Society