Climate Resilience Lead
Dr. Paul Lankester is a Climate Resilience Lead working for English Heritage. English Heritage is a registered charity and is one of the most important guardians of historic sites in England. English Heritage cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites spanning over 6,000 years of history.
Summary
- I have a BSc in Forensic Science, a MSc in Heritage Science and PhD in Environmental Sciences, where I conducted research into the impact of climate change on historic interiors.
- I often work in excel, working with large datasets to analyse them effectively.
- I understand complex scientific research, applying this to the work that English Heritage does, and I communicate this to my colleagues in a way that they will understand, both in written reports and verbally, often presenting my research at academic conferences.
Sectors
In my role I am looking at how climate change will impact English Heritage, focusing on five themes, buildings, collections, gardens and landscapes, people, and operations. This includes mapping climate hazards across all our sites to understand how exactly the climate will change at each site. This helps to inform the impact that this may bring. Collaborating with other colleagues who know each site in more detail we then assess how these changes might impact on sites. As part of this we look at what makes a site vulnerable to climate change. The final part of the puzzle is to consider how we might adapt to reduce the risk of the impact, and to make the site more climate resilient.
I undertake desk-based work, with GIS (geographical information systems) to map the impacts. I also need to understand the science behind climate modelling, and modelling damage to different materials from environmental parameters.
Location
Climate Resilience Lead
In my role I am looking at how climate change will impact English Heritage, focusing on five themes, buildings, collections,...