Summary

I turn spatial data and environmental models into solutions for water management, carbon accounting, and ecosystem monitoring. With a background in geology and geospatial science and as a co-author of published research, my versatility connects Earth Observation to real-world applications. I have contributed to ESA projects, WWF collaborations, and consulted UK Water utilities, balancing the needs of business, NGO’s, and academia. I solve complex environmental challenges with practical scalable methods whilst developing my scripting and data science skills.

Skills

Professional Experience

Aquascope | United Kingdom - Austria, 2021 - Present

• Freelance Specialist | Jun 2026 - Present
• Plans, designs, and implements catchment modelling workflows, integrating National Datasets, Global Landcover, DEM, and novelly derived satellite products, developing catchment basin models for UK and EU rivers using PERSIST/INCA.
• Delivering technical proposal documents for projects in Brazil, Switzerland, and India-Bangladesh.
• GIS & Remote Sensing Specialist | Jul 2022 - Jan 2026
• Builds GEE scripts for near-realtime meteorological inputs for catchment simulations, deployed to 11 modelled catchments.
• Co-authored paper showing models with 65-87% fitting to in-situ sensor data, workflow adopted to future projects.
• Modelling approaches have informed UK Catchment Management Plans for WWF & WRAP for the Wye River, Wetland restoration in Slovenian National Parks, and freshwater management with clients including Anglian Water and Nestlé.
• Intern | Sep 2021 - Jul 2022
• Trained on PERSIST and INCA for river quantity/quality modelling and water resource management.
• Researched automated integration of EO and API-based monitoring data into existing manual workflows.
• Contributed significantly to ESA Project proposal deliverables for ESA-APPS, including User and System Requirements (RD), System-Service Archictecture (SSA), System Verification (SVD) documents, and leading ESA Third Party Mission (TPM) data procurement requests.

Projects

ESA - APPS - Autonomous, Proven, Predictive, Scaleable | 2022 - 2023

• Combining Remote Sensing Meteorology data from ECMWF ERA-5 and NASA GPM IMERG in Google Earth Engine to model (in PERSIST/INCA) River Discharge and Nitrate/Phosphate, and display on an interactive dashboard. Used IFS data in the models for predictive river forecasting for the Thames.
• Demonstrated predictive abilities of PERSIST/INCA models for the first time, achieving 65-87% goodness-of-fit. Presented at the iEMS 2026 Conference, and expanded approach to 10 further UK and EU River basins.

ESA Continuation Project - MRV & Carbon Accounting in Complex River Systems | 2024 - 2025

• Developing from ESA-APPS, integrate additional INCA models to monitor and estimate Carbon biomass accumulation scenarios in Slovenian Wetlands. In collaboration with CarbonClear to aid in ecological management through Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification with a Carbon Asset Verification (CAVe) Report.
• Outcomes presented at ESA Business Applications & Space Solutions Water Day. Enabled CarbonClear to restore 1,000 hectares, sequester 10.5kt/CO² equiv., and improve local biodiversity by 10% by 2035.

WWF Modelling/Scenario Planning - Mitigation in Environmentally Sensitive Ecosystems | 2025 - 2026

• Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) & Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to model 5 environmental mitigation scenarios for 6 catchments in the Aquascope Dashboard, assisting with additional Catchment Management Plans to improve river water quality and mitigate future climate trends with scenario modelling.
• Standardised modelling approach for English/Welsh catchments covering ~5000km², improved efficiency of future catchment modelling development. Results presented to Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Education

MSc Geographic Information Science with Distinction | University of Edinburgh, 2020 - 2021

• Thesis & Technical Document: "Evaluating the Suitability of Sentinel-2 Imagery for Marine Macro-plastic Detection in Coastal Areas". Currently under Review for Publication
• Modules: Remote Sensing, Earth Observation, Environmental & Spatial Modelling, Technological Infrastructures, Geodatabase Management, and Coding (SQL/basic Python).

BSc (Honours) Geology 2:1 | Cardiff University, 2014 - 2017

• Thesis & Fieldmapping: "The Geology of St. Davids Coastline, South West Wales"
• Modules: Geological Fieldwork (Wales, Scotland, England, Spain, Cyprus), Structural Geology & Geotechnical Engineering, Resource Mapping, Hydro- & Glaciology, GIS, Geomorphology, Risk Assessment & Hazard Safety.

Certifications

• 15+ Courses on Earth & Environmental Observation using Satellite Data - NASA ARSET, 2022 - Ongoing
• 4 Courses on the Copernicus Remote Sensing Ecosystem - University of Luxembourg CC 2021, Copernicus WEkEO Essentials 2025 & Earth Sessions 2026
• 3 Courses on GIS Programming, QGIS & GEE, and Machine Learning - ESRI 2020, Udemy 2021, ECMWF, 2026
• CPD course Structural Geology for Exploration & Mining - Cardiff University, 2020
• Additional Certifications, Trainings, and details on LinkedIn

Research Publications

Whitehead, P. G., Edmunds, P., Bussi, G., O’Donnell, S., Futter, M., 2024. "Real-time Water Quality Forecasting in Rivers Using Satellite Data and Dynamic Models: An Online System for Operational Management, Control and Citizen Science". Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12:1331783. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1331783

Memberships & Associations

• Association for Geographic Information (AGI) - Network Member, 2020 - Present
• Royal Geographic Society of London (GSL) - Fellow (FGS), 2014 - 2021

Conference Attendences

• iEMSs 13th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Dublin 2026
• Google Geo For Good, Virtual 2021-2022, Mountain View CA 2023, Dublin 2024
• ESA ECSECO 1st General Meeting, Vienna 2022

Additional Details

Current Location - Vienna 1180, Austria / Pembrokeshire SA43, Wales, UK

Languages - English (Native C2), German (A1), Welsh (A1)

Work Authorisation/Permit - UK and EU/EEA without sponsorship (Irish National 🇮🇪 )