Chair
Dan Hope
Senior Consultant
Arcadis (Geotechnics)
2020 - pres.
Dan was elected Chair of the ECN in 2024, and is an engineering geologist currently working at Mott MacDonald in the Civils and Metros department. He has spent five years delivering site investigation projects across the UK, previously working for Arcadis, Structural Soils Ltd, and Constructive Evaluation Ltd.
Dan has been a committee member of the ECN since 2020 and has held several positions in the committee, including Specialist Group Liaison, Secretary and Vice Chair. Dan now holds a seat on the Professional and Chartership Committee and Awards Working Group of GSL, on behalf of the ECN.
Dan holds an MGeol in Applied and Environmental Geology from the University of Leicester, with a focus on mineral exploration. In his spare time, Dan enjoys tennis, hiking, board games and visits to the pub (preferably all on the same day!)
Vice Chair
Jocelyn Barker
Senior Associate
PwC (Sustainability)
2023 - pres.
Jocelyn currently works as a Net Zero Transformation Consultant at PwC, with a focus on scope 3 emissions and decarbonising the supply chain. She has worked with major oil and gas clients, central government departments and agriculture. As part of her role, Jocelyn stays up to date with the latest news and regulations within the climate space, understanding how best to influence industry to decarbonise and future proof themselves against climate change.
As someone early in her career journey, Jocelyn is at the same stage as many new ECN members, and believes the forum is so important for sharing knowledge, advocating for new career geologists, and opening avenues for professional development. Jocelyn graduated from the University of Oxford with an MEarth Sciences. She is a keen cook, walker and rugby fan (having played throughout university). She joined the committee in 2023.
Secretary
Jean-Jaques Ferguson
Exploration Geologist
CGG (Exploration & Mining)
2023 - pres.
Jean-Jacques is an Exploration Geologist within CGG's Minerals and Mining team working on global- to regional-scale exploration toolsets and global generative exploration projects, with a particular focus on critical minerals. Prior to CGG, he worked for Africa-focused junior explorer Altus Strategies, supporting business development and royalty acquisitions whilst rotating onto exploration campaigns in Morocco and Egypt, where he supported a generative gold project.
Jean-Jacques holds a BSc in Exploration and Resource Geology from Cardiff University and an MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines. He is passionate about supporting early careers in geoscience and, alongside STEM ambassador work, he currently sits on the mentoring committee at the SEG. Outside of geology, he can often be found running, hiking, and scrambling in the Eryri mountains. He joined the ECN Committee in 2023 and took on the role of Secretary.
Treasurer
River Adler
Undergraduate Student
University of Portsmouth (Academia)
2023 - pres.
River Stewart is currently an undergraduate geologist studying at the University of Portsmouth. In their first year, their studies have taken them across the British Isles, most notably to Loch Glencoul to observe the famous thrust faulting that formed the Caledonian mountains. They have previously worked as a data analyst for Ricardo Environment and Energy, in which they predominantly served on the European Green Cities project.
They are currently looking into offshore industry placements and hold an on-going interest into exploratory geology and planetary geoscience. River joined the ECN Committee in 2023 and took on the role of Treasurer.
Group Liason
Harriet Warnock
Project Civil Engineer
Design ID (Geotechnics)
2022 - pres.
Harriet is a Project Engineer at Design ID Consulting, working in the Civil Engineering team. She graduated from the University of Leicester in 2016 with an MGeol in Geology, before completing an MSc in Environment Engineering and Queen's University Belfast. Harriet specialises in drainage design, flood risk, and understanding the unique ground conditions at each site, and her professional interests include hydrogeology, sustainability and the environment.
As a Civil Engineer, Harriet wanted to keep up to date with latest news and innovations in the geology industry. She joined the committee in 2022 as she wanted to get more involved and help with the knowledge-sharing and outreach projects that the GSL offer. In her spare time, Harriet enjoys baking celebration cakes and hiking with her goldendoodle, Bonnie.
Ordinary Committee Members
Alex Christopher
Senior Analyst
CRU International (Exploration & Mining)
2020 - pres.
Alex joined CRU International as a Multi-Commodity Analyst in 2021, before which he worked as an Exploration Geologist for a private equity group with global interests. In this role he gained over two-and-a-half-years' experience in the mineral exploration industry. He has worked on projects across multiple jurisdictions, including Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Montenegro and Arizona, and was exposed to several different deposit types and commodities, including gold, zinc, lead, silver, nickel, copper and cobalt.
Alex holds an MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter and an MSci in Geoscience with A Year of International Study from Royal Holloway, University of London. His International Year was spent at the University of Toronto. Alex is a keen traveler and enjoys tennis, football and Formula One. He joined the ECN Committee in 2020, initially serving as the group's Secretary and later taking on the role of Treasurer until 2023.
Dr Simon Groom
Consultant Geological Engineer
Fugro (Geotechnics)
2020 - pres.
Simon joined the ECN in the Christmas party season of 2019 and was elected in Q1 of the following year. He comes quite late to the site investigation industry (August 2021), where his time is currently dominated by the HS2 project, having had previous careers in laboratory instrumentation, academic research and teaching, and most recently independent research. He doesn't like to limit himself to one applied specialism, having worked in field volcanology, petrology, material characterisation and archaeology.
Simon has been based in and around London and the South East for most of his career, working out of Birkbeck, University of London, University College London, and now Fugro in Wallingford. He joined the ECN because, while London has several diverse and active geoscience communities, in economic geology, site investigation, outreach and recreational geoscience, they appeared to him quite disparate, and it remains difficult for an early career geoscientist to lock into these communities, contribute to them and see and build on their options. He believes the ECN can provide key forum in this space, joining the ECN Committee in 2020.
Ayesha Landon-Browne
PhD Student
Cambridge University (Academia)
2021 - pres.
Ayesha currently splits her time as a PhD Student at the University of Cambridge and working as an Exploration Geologist in northern Canada. Her academic research is focusing on the use of Pt and Fe stable isotopes on Archean komatiites to further understand early Earth processes including core formation, the late veneer and the delivery of siderophile elements to Earth and the early mantle. Her work as an exploration geologist has taken her to remote parts of British Columbia where she has worked on a porphyry gold deposit and most recently in the Yukon at a Ag-Pb-Zn deposit.
Prior to starting her PhD, Ayesha completed a BSc in Chemistry and Earth Sciences at Carleton University and an MSc in Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa. When she is not in the field or the lab Ayesha likes to go backcountry hiking, probably has a knitting project on the go and making plans to explore the UK, and hopefully Europe. She joined the ECN Committee in 2021.
Dr Awei Mabi
Vice Director - CGeol
Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology (Academia)
2023 - pres.
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.
He was rewarded with Xinjiang University Excellent Postgraduate Thesis for his outstanding research on Hongliuhe ophiolite in the eastern part of CAOB. Awei joined the ECN Committee in 2023.
Rachael Sims
Geologist
Tarmac
2024 - pres.
Rachael is an economic geologist who is currently working for Tarmac, having recently undertaken their graduate scheme. As part of her role, she gets involved with a wide variety of quarrying and business projects, including exploration work, quarry design, and modelling/mapping. Prior to joining Tarmac in 2022, she completed a BSc Geology degree from the University of Southampton and a MSc in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines, for which she gained a scholarship from Women in Mining UK.
Rachael is passionate about outreach and developing the next generation of geologists through a variety of initiatives. She hopes to make the paths less travelled easier to navigate. Outside of geology, Rachael can typically be found on a hockey pitch or experimenting in the kitchen. She joined the committee in 2024.
William Downes
Geoscientist
Hotspur Geothermal
2024 - pres.
Will is a Geoscientist at Hotspur Helium, working with the technical team to establish sustainable helium exploration and development projects in emerging markets. He also worked with the team in 2023 on the early-stage development of two geothermal heat projects in Kenya and Tanzania. 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 hiking and kayaking, especially in new places around the UK and internationally.
Ellen Mularkey
Hydrogeologist
AtkinsRéalis
2024 - pres.
Ellen works as a hydrogeologist with AtkinsRéalis, based in water management consultancy. Ellen specialises in groundwater resources management, contributing to a variety of regulatory and asset maintenance driven work. Prior to joining AtkinsRéalis, Ellen worked in groundwater consultancy in Ireland and spent a summer working for a major mining company.
Ellen holds a BA Mod Geology from Trinity College Dublin and an MSc Hydrogeology from University of Birmingham. In her spare time Ellen plays Gaelic football with her local team in London and enjoys hiking around the Surrey Hills at the weekends.