I am an environmental scientist and a freshwater ecologist. My interest in diatoms started during my Ph.D. at the University College London Environmental Change Research Centre and deepened during my postdoctoral work in Dr. Evelyn Gaiser’s laboratory at the Florida International University Institute of Environment. Here I started the Diatom of the Month blog series in late 2015. I worked for over ten years on patterns and drivers of algal species diversity and distribution in the Okavango Delta and the Everglades as well as on wetland conservation and restoration. In the last six years I have been working on citizen science and plastic pollution in rivers at environmental charities Earthwatch Europe and Thames21; since mid-2022 I have also been working on noise pollution and air quality at the UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.