Jim Martin B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., Ph.D., MIEEM
Managing Director
Jim Martin
Jim completed his Ph.D. thesis at the Botany Department of Trinity College Dublin in 1998 and then commenced a one year post-doctoral position with Teagasc. Before taking up his current position he spent two years at the National Agricultural Research Institute in Guyana, South America, instigating research projects that would contribute to biological research and development in the country. Jim has been a senior ecologist at BEC Consultants since 2003 and is currently managing the Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey. He has also been the lead ecologist on projects such as the Rare, Threatened, and Scarce Vascular Plant Survey of Counties Cavan, Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Westmeath and Conservation of the Protected Species Irish Fleabane.
Steve Waldren B.Sc. (Hons.), Ph.D.
Company Director
Steve Waldren
Steve has held the position of Company Director since the company’s inception in 2000. He plays a key role for the company in providing the Secretariat for the Irish National Platform for Biodiversity Research and his expertise in rare plants has been utilised in projects such as Mitigation Measures for the Nationally Threatened Schoenoplectus triqueter. He acts in an advisory capacity on other projects within the company. Steve is currently the Curator/Administrator of Trinity College Botanic Gardens, and is involved with a range of conservation and research organisations including BGCI/IABG European Botanic Garden Consortium and the Irish Genetic Resources Conservation Trust. His main areas of research are ecological and population genetics, physiological ecology, plant biogeography, island floras, and conservation biology.
Philip Perrin B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., Ph.D., MIEEM
Principal Ecologist
Philip Perrin
Philip joined BEC Consultants in 2003. He is an experienced botanist specialising in woodland and upland habitats. He is currently lead ecologist for the ongoing National Survey of Upland Habitats. His main role previously was lead ecologist for the National Survey of Native Woodlands (2003-2008) and the Ancient and Long-established Woodland project (2009-2010). He is skilled in statistical analysis of vegetation data using ordination and clustering techniques and has developed national scale vegetation classification systems for Irish native woodlands, semi-natural grasslands and upland habitats. Philip has also developed and presented a training course on vegetation data analysis.
Simon Barron B.Sc. (Hons.), CEnv.
Principal Ecologist
Simon Barron
Simon joined BEC Consultants in 2004. He has over 12 years experience as a professional ecologist. He is experienced in botanical field surveys, mammal surveys and in assessing the conservation value of sites. He is currently project manager for the National Survey of Upland Habitats and the National Survey and Assessment of the Conservation Status of Irish Sea Cliffs. He has also project managed and been lead ecologist for a number of habitat mapping projects including the County Monaghan Wetland Survey and Killarney National Park Habitat Mapping project. He has completed rare plant rescue translocations for Schoenoplectus triqueter, Groenlandia densa and Hordeum secalinum and continues to monitor these species. Simon is skilled in GIS mapping techniques, aerial photograph interpretation and writing management plans.
Fionnuala O’Neill B.Sc. (Hons.), Dip. Comp. Sc., H. Dip. Appl. Sc., Ph.D., MIEEM
Senior Ecologist
Fionnuala O'Neill
Since joining BEC Consultants in 2007, Fionnuala has worked extensively on the Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey, for which she is lead ecologist, and the National Survey of Native Woodlands. She is an experienced botanist and bryologist, with woodland flora a speciality. She previously worked with other consultancies conducting habitat surveys and mapping for pre-construction studies, including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), environmental reports, constraints studies and route selection studies. She has extensive experience as a lecturer in University College Cork and teaches botany and plant chemistry to student medical herbalists. She holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Plant Science and diplomas in computer science and applied science from University College Cork. Her Ph.D. examined factors affecting the regeneration of the Glengarriff sessile oak woods following clearance of Rhododendron ponticum; as a result she
has a special interest in invasive species ecology and bryophyte identification.
Download Fionnuala O’Neill’s CV
Kate McNutt B.Sc. (Hons.) MIEEM
Consultant Ecologist
Kate McNutt
Since joining BEC Consultants in 2006, Kate has worked on a variety of projects, including the County Monaghan Wetland Survey, National Survey of Native Woodlands (NSNW), National Survey of Upland Habitats and the Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey. She managed the Habitat Survey and Ecological Assessment of Coonagh, Survey of Marsh Fritillary and Bumblebees and the BREEAM Assessment for the Midlands Prison as well as the GIS aspects of the NSNW Digitisation project. Through extensive lab and field work she has developed excellent vascular plant, bryophyte and invertebrate identification skills, particularly aquatic invertebrates, bumblebees and butterflies. She is adept in GIS and is currently studying part-time for a Postgraduate Diploma in Geographic Information Systems with the University of Ulster. Kate holds an honours degree in Ecology from the University of East Anglia, which included an Erasmus year in France studying marine biology.
Aoife Delaney B.A. (Mod.), M.Res. MIEEM
Consultant Ecologist
Aoife Delaney
Aoife joined BEC Consultants in 2007. Her main responsibilities include planning, organising and carrying out ecological surveys, data management, database design, writing reports and tenders and giving talks and presentations at conferences. She was the lead ecologist for the Ecological Surveys for Slane, Ashbourne and Moynalty Local Area Plans and assistant project manager for the National Survey and Assessment of the Conservation Status of Irish Sea Cliffs. Other projects she has worked on with BEC Consultants include the National Survey of Native Woodlands and the Irish Semi-natural Grassland Survey. Aoife holds an honours degree in Botany from Trinity College Dublin and M.Res in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Leeds. Her Masters research projects were based on biodiversity of butterflies, seedlings and saplings in rainforest in Borneo.
Fiona Devaney B.Sc. (Hons.), Ph.D.
Consultant Ecologist
Fiona Devaney
Since joining BEC Consultants in 2009, Fiona has been primarily involved in the Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey. Her responsibilities include leading survey teams, carrying out vegetation surveys and condition assessments of Annex I habitats, arranging access for field surveys, digital mapping and report writing. She has also been involved in the National Survey of Upland Habitats and Ancient and Long-established Woodlands of Co. Cork. Fiona is an experienced botanist who specialised in dune slack ecology during her Ph.D. research, and as a result she has a special interest in coastal habitats, soil chemistry and hydrology.
Jenni Roche B.A. Mod., Dip. EIA Mgmt., Dip. Stat., Ph.D., MIEEM
Consultant Ecologist
Jenni Roche
Jenni rejoined BEC Consultants in 2009, having previously worked for the company from 2004 to 2005. She has worked on a range of projects including the National Survey of Native Woodlands, the Rare Vascular Plant Records Database and a Study of the Royal Canal Vascular Plant Flora. She is currently primarily involved in the National Survey of Upland Habitats, where her responsibilities include project management, vegetation surveys, condition assessment of Annex I habitats, digital habitat mapping and report writing. She has previously worked as a freelance ecological consultant and conducted botanical research in Connemara National Park and the Burren National Park. Jenni is an experienced field botanist and data analyst, with a particular interest in vegetation classification and dynamics. Her Ph.D. examined the vegetation ecology and native status of Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) in Ireland.
Louise Scally M.Sc., Dip., Cert. Ph.D.
Associate Ecologist
Louise Scally
Louise works as a manager for a number of biodiversity strategy projects with BEC Consultants. She is currently the project manager for the Irish National Platform for Biodiversity Research and she was cluster administrator for the BioChange project, an integrative, multi-disciplinary research framework to support national and local biodiversity policy in Ireland. Louise is also the Irish representative for BioStrat, an EU Framework project in support of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy. In addition to her project management skills she has worked on numerous marine survey projects, including the production of management plans and habitat and species surveys.
Orla Daly B.Sc., M.Sc.
Ecologist
Orla Daly
Orla joined BEC Consultants in 2009 to assist in the initialisation of a national inventory of ancient and long-established woodlands. Her duties on this project involved site selection, collation of botanical/environmental/structural data, digital mapping, data entry, desk-based research and report writing. She has since worked on several projects including the National Survey of Upland Habitats, Irish Semi–natural Grassland Survey and the Marsh Fritillary and Bumblebee Survey. Orla has also recently conducted a project entitled the ‘Ancient and Long-established Woodlands of Co. Cork’, thereby initiating the first county-based inventory of these habitats in Ireland. Orla holds an M.Sc. in Biodiversity and Conservation. She has previously worked as a research assistant for the FORESTBIO Project and as a conservation volunteer.