The Team

  • Chris Carbone

    Chris Carbone

    Professor, ZSL

    Chris is a scientist at the Institute of Zoology, ZSL. His work combines theoretical and practical research in ecology, focusing on body size, diet and human–wildlife interactions. He founded the London HogWatch project and has published on a wide range of topics focusing on mammalian ecology and biodiversity.

  • Kate Scott-Gatty

    Kate Scott-Gatty

    London HogWatch Project Manager

    Kate manages the London HogWatch project. She specialises in biodiversity monitoring using camera traps. Her work has focuses on how monitoring data can aid conservation efforts by gaining insights into trends and spatial distributions of species.

  • Chloe Hartland

    Chloe Hartland

    Research Technician

    Chloe is a researcher at London HogWatch since 2022. Her research interests are in urban biodiversity monitoring, ecology and the use of genomics for wildlife conservation and management.

  • Bella Horwood

    Bella Horwood

    Research Technician

    Bella  is a researcher at London HogWatch. Her interests include bridging urban conservation efforts with inclusive community engagement initiatives.

  • Ben Evans

    Ben Evans

    Post Doctoral Research Assistant

    Ben is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and specialises in developing machine-learning methods for conservation. He focuses on automating density estimation and creating data pipelines for the NHMP. His earlier research involved developing an end-to-end semi-automated camera trap pipeline with advances in multi-frame detection and generalisable species classification methods.

  • Robin Freeman

    Robin Freeman

    Senior Research Fellow, ZSL

    Robin is a researcher at London HogWatch and the Head of the Indicators and Assessment Unit at ZSL. This unit maintains and produces the Living Planet Index which is reported biannually with WWF in the Living Planet Report. He conducted his doctoral work in a combination of zoology, machine learning and pattern recognition and he maintains a strong interest in novel analytical methods to better understand the natural world.

  • Marcus Rowcliffe

    Marcus Rowcliffe

    Professor, ZSL

    Marcus is a researcher at London HogWatch and a conservation scientist at the Institute of Zoology, ZSL. He specialises in biodiversity monitoring using advanced technologies such as camera traps, drones and acoustic sensors. Marcus has developed key statistical tools for estimating animal abundance. His work spans urban wildlife in the UK to endangered species conservation globally.

  • Jessica Turner

    Jessica Turner

    Postdoctoral Research Assistant

    Jessica is a conservation biologist specializing in urban ecology and wildlife genetics. Her research focuses on the effects of urbanisation on the western European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). Her work combines ecological fieldwork with genetic analysis to investigate how urban landscape fragmentation impacts hedgehog population size, distribution, genetic diversity, and connectivity across Greater London.

  • Daisy Sankey

    Daisy Sankey

    PhD Student

    Daisy’s research focuses on the interactions between ticks and their host species in the UK, with a particular focus on deer. This research will provide critical insights into the ecology of urban ticks and tick-borne disease risk, helping to refine urban green space management strategies that will benefit both wildlife and people. This research is funded through the London NERC DTP, and she is based at the Institute of Zoology and Queen Mary University of London.

Volunteers

Our work across various London Boroughs would not be possible without the help of numerous volunteers from community groups, residents, and societies. HogWatch is constantly undertaking camera trap surveys that involve large numbers of volunteers, providing the opportunity for members of the community to get out into nature and help wildlife local to them.

Volunteers help us set up cameras in London’s parks and green spaces and take cameras home to conduct their own garden survey. These garden surveys are an important addition to our data as gardens can act as important refuges for hedgehogs in highly urbanised areas.

If you are interested in joining surveys please send us an email at hogwatch@zsl.org.