Chris Nugent
Programmer and Teacher, Environmental and Earth Sciences

After graduating in the Environmental Sciences in 1977, I taught Geography at a Secondary School in Botswana for two years before moving to Zimbabwe at their Independance in 1980. I worked at the University of Zimbabwe for ten years to 1991, first as a Teaching Assistant and later as a Junior Lecturer in the Geology Department, from where I studied the Middle Zambezi River. I investigated the downstream effects of Kariba Dam, writing a predictive model on an Apple II computer. Studying the Cenozoic evolution of the river, I found evidence for capture of the upper catchment and identified a cataclysmic flood deposit from that event. I dated capture from the published Stone Age archaeology to 125,000BP and suggested a climatic sequence that could have caused it, with possible implications for future climate change.

After returning to Britain in 1991, I obtained a teaching qualification, PGCE in Earth Science and taught in schools for a few years before joining Hydro-Logic as a programmer. From 1998 I took a lead role in building HydroLog 4 and other environmental data management tools. After two years as Training Manager, I started working for their Consultancy Division in 2007, reporting on flood risk and related issues for a wide range of clients. I have continued to write software tools which are used by members of the team to process their data. I have also continues to teach on several of the hydrometry courses that Hydro-Logic deliver to the Environment Agency, SEPA and clients in the private sector.

As scientists and educators, we need to utilise and teach the skills of data manipulation that drive knowlege in the digital age. General computing tools are often not well suited to adequately represent the complexity of the natural environment or to rapidly process large datasets and we should be prepared, where necessary, to create our own tools. I have been doing this for the past thirty years and wish to continue this work. Building on the software that I have developed in particular over the past seven years, I am able to interface with existing systems to provide a wide range of computing tools to suit the specific needs of commercial, research or training organisations who process environmental data, while passing on my skills and enthusiasm to the next generation.