Dr. Katie Medcalf

Katie Medcalf is an experienced ecologist and GIS analyst with extensive project and people management experience.

Katie gained her PhD in ecological land restoration, looking at the reinstatement of species rich wet grassland communities called ‘Rhos’ pastures. She then went on to work in ecological mapping completing habitat surveys of the common land in Clwyd working for the Rural Survey Research Unit. She also lectured to students on the Environmental Impact Assessment Course at University of Wales Aberystwyth.

Katie joined ADAS in 1994 to manage the survey and monitoring of the Environmentally Sensitive Area ESA scheme. She then worked for The Farming and Rural Conservation Agency where her ecological knowledge and land restoration skills were extensively used on restored opencast coal sites, in particular giving advice on Post Restoration Plans and Aftercare. She is an experienced soil surveyor and is a fully trained in Agricultural Land Classification.

Katie became convinced of the power of GIS when she was asked to provide some policy advice on the effectiveness of the ESA schemes to the National Assembly for Welsh. Using a GIS system not only made the work more efficient but gave a much clearer picture than would have been possible without seeing the geographical spread.

Katie joined the National Assembly for Wales in 2000 and went on to manage a GI team who developed the Department for Environment Planning and Countryside’s corporate GI System WENDI (Welsh Environment data Interface). Since this time Katie has used GIS extensively to analyses data and provide the evidence base for policy decisions. Katie has run many successful projects using PRINCE II project methodology.

Katie is a keen advocate of the power of GIS and was the chair of the Association of Geographic Information (AGI) Cymru from 2002-2004. She is a member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and the British Ecological Society.

Katie firmly belives that GIS can make a difference to all business activities and is convinced that the power of the technology will be realised as it becomes more widely available. She is working towards this aim.