Mary Gagen

I work in the broad area of forest climate space and on environmental education, outreach and public engagement. I am a passionate educator and co-run Swansea University Science For Schools Scheme, a widening access STEM outreach programme. My background is in tree ring climate science, specializing in stable isotope analysis. I teach climate and forest science, science communication skills, and public STEM engagement and recently returned to my academic role following a two-year secondment to WWF UK, as Chief Advisor on Forests. My current research foci are on changing carbon-water relationships in trees and Oak Decline syndrome in the UK, global deforestation and tree ring-based paleoclimatology. Through my public engagement work I am also interested in science capital theory, the relationship between environmental action and educational inequality, and climate communication. My research funders include – Forest Research and the UK Forestry Commission, DEFRA, Woodland Trust, Woodland Heritage, UKRI and various EU programmes. I am a National Geographic Explorer. I am a trustee of the South East Asian Rainforest Research Programme and a Steering Committee member of the UK Palaeoclimate Society.

Education:
1997 B.Sc. Geography and Geology, University of Birmingham.
2003 Ph.D. Geography, University of Wales Swansea: “The Response of Pine Tree to the climate in the Southern French Alps and the Paleoclimate Potential of Stable Carbon Isotope Ratios”.
2014 Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. Swansea University (Merit).