Kirsty Elliott got into soil science when she was studying for her undergraduate masters in environmental science at Bangor University thanks to her enthusiastic lecturers! She completed her undergraduate project on nutrient losses in runoff during rainfall events after manure application to agricultural land. After graduating in 2015, Kirsty worked for a wastewater consultancy for 2 years where she learned a lot about working in industry for a consultancy, but missed the interesting world of soil science. 

In 2017, Kirsty returned to academia to study for a PhD in soil science at the University of Sheffield, her research focused on biosolid-soil interactions under different land management practices. Since submitting her thesis, she has moved back into industry and currently works as a soil scientist at Wardell Armstrong, where she gets to work on a wide range of projects and help promote the importance of soils as a resource in industry.

Kirsty joined BSSS shortly after starting her PhD and has been an active member of the society ever since, including an EC committee member since 2018. During her time on the committee, she helped to organise the EC conference in 2019, which was attended by our society patron, and has helped to deliver the aims of the committee and the society. In 2021, Kirsty also joined the WCSS Working Group to represent both BSSS EC members and worldwide EC soil scientists in the run up to the WCSS in Glasgow 2022.

Please get in touch if you have any questions, ideas or even to promote an interesting event or opportunity for EC soil scientists. Email Kirsty at: earlycareers@soils.org.uk.