Earlier this week, we caught up with Senior Hydrological Consultant, Emily Trill, to find out more about life at Thomson.
1. Tell us about your role as Senior Hydrological Consultant
My role is very varied as we provide a range of hydrological and multi-disciplinary services including:
- nutrient neutrality assessments,
- water quality monitoring and management,
- Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) assessment and design,
- flood risk assessments, and
- Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA) and Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessments.
(See our Freshwater page for a full list of our water services)
I enjoy being involved in projects from start to finish, from scope development and project management, through field work or desk studies and then analysis and write up of technical reports.
2. What attracted you to the role at Thomson?
I was looking to work in a faster paced environment to keep me on my toes and found the opportunity to work with Thomson in an innovative and sustainable setting an exciting prospect! It’s a relaxed and supportive environment to work in, with a great team and company values that align with my own.
3. What’s the best bits of your job?
Every day and every project is different, I love the variety of the role and working with so many knowledgeable colleagues that collaborate across ecology, marine, arboriculture and habitats – I’m always learning something new from them.
4. Tell us about a recent project
We recently completed a Thames floodplain restoration project for a complex wetland site in Richmond. The site is an active floodplain driven by tidal, groundwater and surface water influences. The data collected from our hydrological monitoring scheme was used to better understand the current, and model the future, hydrological functioning of the site. This information was essential for making decisions on how best to restore the wetlands and enhance its ability to store flood waters.
5. Tell us about your career and how you became a senior hydrological consultant
I graduated from the University of Southampton with a MSci in Oceanography and volunteered as an offshore scientist on 6-week research cruises, carrying out sampling and measurements of physical and biogeochemical parameters across the North Atlantic. I then joined the metocean consultancy Fugro as an Oceanographer for 4-years, delivering and managing large modelling and monitoring projects across the world, from deploying current moorings in the North Sea to modelling design criteria projects for platforms in the Indian Ocean. My oceanography experience with monitoring sensors allowed me to apply this knowledge to a freshwater environment and join the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology as a Hydrologist. I had a very diverse research role over 5-years, which included providing hydrometry training, lab management, running a data advisory group and co-ordinating large fieldwork projects in the UK and overseas, with a focus on Natural Flood Management and Nature Based Solutions. The opportunity to join Thomson arose and I made the move back to consultancy last year.
6. What other interests do you have outside of work?
I enjoy any activities that keep me exploring outdoors, whether it’s trail running, swimming, skiing, sailing or scuba diving, but most of the time you’ll find me on my mountain bike in the woods with my dog!
7. What’s one thing that people would find surprising about you?
I have competed in the world’s longest downhill mountain bike race, the Megavalanche, which has a mass enduro start on a glacier at 3300 m and descends 2,600m in one run. I also got engaged at the race start line!
Get in touch to find out how our water ecology team can help your next project.
Or if you’d like to join #TeamThomson, check out our careers page for our latest vacancies.
