Environmental Research & Assessment (ERA) was established in 1998 by Dr Colin Harris to assist international clients meet their obligations through provision of specialist environmental planning and policy advice, technical publications and reports, map products and information resources. Products are based on high-quality research and in-depth knowledge of environmental issues. ERA has special expertise and considerable field experience in polar environmental issues, although many of the principles and techniques are readily transferrable and can be applied in other contexts.
ERA maintains close links with specialists in government, industry, universities and environmental institutions worldwide. These links, coupled with access to outstanding environmental / polar library and research resources, enable ERA to keep abreast of current issues and emerging trends. ERA is a small company highly responsive to client needs. Over the past five years the company has used a range of subconsultants and had several part-time employees working on projects to provide a well-targeted, efficient and adaptable service of the highest quality. ERA currently has four Environmental & GIS Specialist staff working on polar and African projects.
Colin Harris has more than 15 years experience in environmental management and GIS. He has authored numerous reports and articles dealing with polar environmental problems, advised governments and industry, and co-edited the book Antarctica and global climatic change. Colin was a Senior Associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, from 2001-06.
Rachel Carr focuses on Antarctic and Arctic environments and her previous work includes investigating the impacts of climatic change on the Greenland ice sheet and surrounding sea ice as part of her MPhil at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. She has used a range of GIS and remote sensing techniques to investigate aspects of the physical environment.
Emma Gatti, from Italy, recently left ERA to take up her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge where she will continue to apply GIS to environmental problems. To fill the post, ERA appointed Katharina Lorenz, from Germany, who has a degree in GIS & Cartography from the Technical University of Dresden. She recently completed a glacier mapping project in the Everest region of Nepal using GPS and radar, and set up a practical GIS to assist coffee growers manage their crops near Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Katharina Lorenz - CV (pdf 11KB)
ERA appointed Sarah Jones in September 2009, who took up the role after completing an MPhil in GIS & Remote Sensing at the University of Cambridge. Sarah has a BSc in Mathematics from Royal Holloway, University of London and recently completed her M.Phil in GIS and Remote Sensing at the University of Cambridge. For her MPhil she completed a project evaluating tropical forest cover change in the Kumasi region of Ghana using Landsat Thematic Mapper data and her MPhil thesis was on the Analysis of Terrace Structures in Konso, Ethiopia, using LiDAR-derived Digital Elevation Models and Aerial Photographs.
