FUTURE DRIVEN
Meet the awesome team who make everything we do possible
Laurence Oakes-Ash
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
Previously holding senior trading positions at Investment banks in London and New York Laurence spent his career bringing together vast complex data sets and developing systems to create actionable insights. An adept operator, lead generator and strategist, he managed £30bn of annual deal flow and was consistently achieving a #1 market share on the London Stock Exchange. This exposure to real-time data and automation within Financial Services fired Laurence’s interest in its applications to cities. Laurence is an award-winning management accountant and member of the CIHT. Laurence now lives in Devon, where in his spare time (i.e. rarely), he likes sailing and eating barbeque (with brisket, pulled pork and mac n cheese – New York style).
Glenn Woodcock
CO-FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN
Glenn is a serial entrepreneur, an incredible source of vision, passion and direction. With 25 years in senior management positions across venture capital, product development, and risk, he brings a wealth of experience to the City Science board. He has taken a number of businesses from inception, investment and deep value creation through to successful exit. He holds a number of directorships, including being Director of Oxygen House. Glenn is a physicist and a Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy. When not thinking up ideas for his next start-up, Glenn can be found spending time with his family, sheep and chickens on Dartmoor.
Edward Campbell PhD (he/him)
CTO
Ed joined City Science after a year away from work, cycle touring through Asia and Europe. Before that adventure he was Senior Product Manager for Data Products at the Met Office, driving the development of APIs and the migration of services to the cloud. Passionate about all things data, he's worked in startups and multinationals, switching between coding and business development throughout his career. Ed studied at Cambridge, obtaining a first in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Astrophysics. When he's not cycling, running or swimming, you'll find him baking bread.
Simon Lusby (he/him)
HEAD OF TRANSPORT & SUSTAINABILITY
Simon is our strategic consulting, policy and planning lead, responsible for expanding our transport planning, sustainability and energy businesses and client application of our award winning transport product - Cadence. He brings experience with numerous transport modelling software packages, and a breadth of transport planning project leadership experience from the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom and Australasia. Most recently Simon was a senior manager within Transport for London’s City Planning Directorate, responsible for public transport strategy. Between his passion for sustainable transport and spending time with his two young daughters, he fits in time to train for marathons. So far he has completed 3 of the 6 World Majors.
Simon Drake
FINANCE & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Simon is our Finance & Operations Director, bringing a wealth of experience from a top 30 accountancy practice where he managed a diverse client portfolio, held a senior position in the firm’s Technology, Innovation and Growth team, and provided technical accountancy support to colleagues throughout the region. Simon also has diverse commercial experience, including working for one of Europe’s largest regional airlines, adding additional commerciality to his strong technical background. Simon left practice to focus his attention on delivering the greatest level of impact to a business that could really make a difference. City Science was the perfect fit and he’s never looked back!
Oliver Stradling (he/him)
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Graduating amid a climate crisis, Oli is passionate about making as big of an impact as possible by providing tools, low carbon solutions and actionable frameworks to organisations working with City Science. Previously working in the sustainability team of a large online retailer and being a first class graduate from the University of Exeter, he pairs his technical expertise of climate mitigations scenarios, with an understanding of the issues and barriers faced by organisations in reducing their emissions in a holistic, robust and immediate manner. Outside of work, Oli enjoys chasing waves along the Cornish coast.
Elliot Reid
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, TRANSPORT POLICY & PLANNING LEAD
Elliot is an Associate Director at City Science, with particular experience in transport strategy and transport appraisal studies including leading Transport Assessments for a variety of development sites in both Scotland and the South East. Alongside Cadence, he has analytical skills across a range of transport modelling packages including SATURN, S-Paramics and LinSig. When he's not hard at work, he can be found watching his beloved Aberdeen FC play, cycle touring around the UK or perfecting his Cities Skylines masterpiece. He also grows vegetables, although nothing that is yet edible.
Heather Watkinson (she/her)
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, NET ZERO TRANSPORT LEAD
Heather leads our net zero transport offer including road decarbonisation, air quality, zero emission vehicles and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Passionate about addressing the climate emergency, Heather brings over 20 years’ experience of developing successful decarbonisation, air quality and sustainability projects and strategies. Most recently Heather developed and delivered Transport for London’s world leading projects including the Ultra Low Emission Zone, changes to the Congestion Charge Zone and London’s latest electric vehicle infrastructure strategy. Outside of work Heather is bringing up two sustainably conscious young people and is a real people person, so long as she can get to you by bike.
Bethany Taylor (she/her)
Research & Development Programme Manager
Bethany brings a background in retrofit and project management. She graduated from Swansea University with a master’s degree in Engineering Leadership and Management following her undergraduate in Environmental Engineering. In her spare time, Bethany plays women’s rugby, previously playing for England U20s, U18 TDG and Saracens. Through playing rugby, she has gained additional skills such as effective decision-making, teamwork, and emotional intelligence which she brings to her management role. Additionally, Bethany is big on promoting mental health awareness, filming programmes and hosting podcasts discussing mental health through one of the rugby teams she captains.
Joshua Jiao PhD (he/him)
PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT CONSULTANT
Joshua is an award-winning transport modeller with experience in transport modelling and appraisals. His projects experience covers demand modelling and economic cases for highways, local roads, rail services/stations and active travel schemes. Before joining City Science, he held a substantive role in the traffic and economics team on the Lower Thames Crossing project. Joshua also worked as an academic researcher in the Cities and Transport group at Cambridge, from where he has granted his PhD degree. His research on travel demand modelling for recreational trips was awarded the Neil Mansfield Memorial Award at the 2019 European Transport Conference. In his spare time, he’s now working towards his fourth degree (second Master’s degree) in City and Transport Planning at UCL.
Grace Solsby BSc (Hons) MSc MCIHT (she/her)
PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT PLANNING & MODELLING CONSULTANT
Grace brings a wide range of strong technical capabilities, gained from small to large multi-disciplinary projects. She leads many of our transport modelling disciplines, specialising in developing technical evidence bases, analysis, GIS modelling and appraisal, for non-technical audiences. She is adept at handling and manipulating large datasets and assisting the build of bespoke tools. She has experience working with strategic models (SATURN, VISUM), micro-simulation models (S-Paramics, VISSIM) and traffic engineering models (ARCADY, PICADY and LinSig), including a secondment to the DfT to scrutinise modelling and appraisal for business cases to support major investment decisions. Grace is originally from the Lake District and enjoys embracing her outdoor roots.
Hayley Goold
SENIOR TRANSPORT & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Hayley joined City Science in May 2023 as a transport consultant. Hayley has worked in the transport industry since graduating with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and enjoys applying her mathematical skills to transport projects. Her expertise lies in strategic models, data analysis, tool development, and statistical theory. Outside of work, Hayley enjoys baking and running (and is pleased that her two hobbies cancel each other out).
Felicia Baily
TRANSPORT CONSULTANT
Having completed her masters degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Southampton, Felicia joined City Science as a Transport Consultant in November 2020. With previous experience in transport modelling, programming and data analysis, she is excited to bring her skills to the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Before becoming a member of the team, Felicia spent a winter in Canada teaching children to ski. These days she spends her weekends chasing escaped sheep around the family farm.
Aoife Dudley
TRANSPORT CONSULTANT
Aoife joined City Science in April 2022, after spending three years at Atkins on their transport planning graduate scheme. She has experience in a broad range of transport planning disciplines, from policy and strategy to modelling, economics and evaluation, and she is looking forward to applying this expertise to the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Outside of work, Aoife can either be found making music, out on a run, or creating something new in the kitchen.
Katie Sharp
GRADUATE TRANSPORT & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Katie joined City Science in June 2022 as a Graduate Transport and Sustainability Consultant. Her degrees in BSc Geography and MSc Global Sustainability Solutions from the University of Exeter allowed Katie to gain an extensive breadth of academic knowledge in environmental problems and how to mitigate them, as well as develop high quality writing, research, data and geo-spatial skills. She is excited to apply these skills in order to provide support across transport and sustainability projects within City Science. Outside of work you can catch Katie in a boxing ring or playing with her cockerpoo, Odin.
David Fraser (he/him)
SENIOR DEVELOPER
David specialises in building complex web-apps while making them look simple. He joins City Science from a career delivering such websites for household names in the travel and automotive sectors. With a degree in Graphic Design and a quarter of a century tinkering with computers David bridges the gap between design and development. He isn't just passionate about creating powerful digital tools, he also cares about making them clear and pleasing to use too. When he's not thinking up better UX or writing more elegant code he can be found in the more analogue world passing time with friends and family, in the garage working on motorcycles or out enjoying the open road.
Kathryn Mason
SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Kathryn is a scientific software developer at City Science where she creates complex code to model transport systems. Prior to City Science, Kathryn spent 12 years at TRL where she developed software and new features for ARCADY and TRANSYT. She has extensive experience developing software for Smart Motorways and using optimisation techniques to manage real-time traffic flows. Kathryn also likes getting her hands dirty - with physical computer hardware, building robots and finding novel applications for Raspberry Pi’s. She also likes getting her hands dirty gardening - a pastime she describes as the “secret of happiness”. One day she hopes to combine her passion for robotics and nature by building a robotic weeding machine. City Science are eagerly awaiting the patent rights.
Andy Allen PhD
ANALYTICS & APPLIED SCIENCE LEAD
Andy joined City Science from Nottingham University where was Leverhulme research fellow within the Laboratory for Urban Complexity and Sustainability. He has worked on building energy modelling, energy conversion systems, mass flow analysis, transport models & even helped to build the Spaceguard centre’s new telescope dome. He has a PhD in Plasma physics and used to be a ju-jitsu instructor.
Joe McQuillen MEng
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ENERGY
Joe is an experienced energy systems and environmental consultant, with a broad range of experience spanning across the energy sector having worked in the built environment, Combined Heat and Power (CHP), aviation, shipping, heavy industry, carbon capture and Anaerobic Digestion (AD). He’s been involved in some of the UK’s major government energy programmes, having been a key member behind BEIS’s Combined Heat & Power Quality Assurance (CHPQA) programme and audited 100s of renewable heating systems via Ofgem’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. Joe also has a passion for programming and working with data; he hopes to combine his programming skills and his enthusiasm for energy to accelerate our transition towards net zero. When Joe isn’t writing code or thinking about the future of energy, you might catch him running, swimming, or cycling, in preparation for his next triathlon.
Anna Lawson MEng
PRINCIPAL ENERGY CONSULTANT
Anna has a wealth of experience across the heat and energy sector, with an extensive background of masterplanning, feasibility studies and optimisation modelling. Her specialities cover heat networks, Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP), Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) and Energy from Waste. She was the lead modeller for the UK Government's most recent update to the National Comprehensive Assessment, modelling the UK-wide potential for heat networks, and was heavily involved with the Scottish Government's development of the LHEES process. Anna has a passion to integrate software and digital processes, to constantly improve the quality and efficiency of the decarbonisation solutions we offer to clients. When not at work, Anna loves a challenge and will be exploring the UK's offering of mountains and countryside as a competitive triathlete and keen but less competitive ultramarathon runner.
Ben Gilbart PhD (he/him)
ENERGY CONSULTANT
Ben is an energy consultant at City Science, who recently completed a PhD in low-temperature plasma simulation at the University of Liverpool. Before that he worked at Western Power Distribution, helping to increase efficiency across the electricity network. He now uses the knowledge he gained to help us reach net zero by forecasting future energy systems through modelling, data analysis and optimisation. Outside of work, Ben is usually found scouring the map to find the steepest possible hill to cycle up, or writing soothing music for the piano.
Jade Baker-Edwards (she/her)
ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Originally from a commercial and project management background, Jade embarked on an engineering degree at The Open University to achieve her life and career goal of making the maximum impact on climate change and decarbonisation. PRINCE2 qualified, she oversees and manages a variety of our key transport and energy projects and contributes to a variety of strategies, reports and white papers. Outside of City Science Jade spends an (un)healthy amount of time on the yoga mat and obsesses over applying structural engineering principles to yoga postures.
Kerensa Froome MPhys (she/her)
GRADUATE ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Kerensa enjoys applying her diverse skill set to solving sustainability related challenges, she joined City Science after graduating from the University of Manchester with a first class masters degree in Theoretical Physics. During her masters year she expanded her computational and mathematical skills by developing a machine learning model for medical image manipulation, whilst also participating in multiple sustainability campaigns in her local area. When she’s not working, she likes to volunteer with climate action groups; go on runs and host dinner parties.
Bob Hickish PhD
PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Bob is interested by networks, values the societal benefit of transport, and is passionate about decarbonisation and sustainability. This combination led to a PhD where he developed software to optimise rail networks specifically for maximum passenger benefit - it is unknown whether or not this was an act of pure self-interest from a frequent rail user. His subsequent postdoctoral research focused on the storage of energy regenerated during train braking. Bob’s passion for environmental sustainability stems, in part, from a love of the natural world and being outside. A keen rock climber and surfer, he enjoys pursuing these activities in wild places and looks forward to this being enabled by sustainable transportation systems.
Raquel Rodrigues BSc PGDip (she/her)
GRADUATE ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
Raquel has an academic background in material science and renewable energy engineering. After completing her post-graduation at the Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal, she moved to London, where she gained work experience in the energy industry, business development and corporate training. Raquel joined City Science to pair her training & project management knowledge with her passion for sustainability. Outside work, Raquel enjoys exploring the city centre, gardening, and spending a sunny afternoon with friends in a local park.
James Lewis PhD (he/him)
DATA MODELLING CONSULTANT
Before joining City Science in May 2019, James was at Durham University earning his PhD developing breakthrough algorithms to analyse the structure of highly complex functional materials. He went on to become P&G Portfolio Manager at the University, working to develop a range of collaborative research projects to meet industry challenges across Computer Sciences, Engineering, Physical and Life Sciences. James is now using his multi-disciplinary talent at City Science to meet the modelling needs of the future. When he isn’t doing that, James is a keen sportsman having turned his hand to most sports you can name, including Snow Polo and Cheese Rolling. But algorithms are his true passion - he uses them in every aspect of life, and even developed one to create the seating plan for his wedding.
Jamie Ridley
FRONT END DEVELOPER
Jamie makes data look beautiful and interactive. Prior to joining City Science, Jamie helped academics visualise scientific concepts. His unique skill-set combines an intricate understanding of Physics with all the modern tools to make data look great. He has a growing portfolio of scientific animations and an encyclopedic knowledge of engineering. You could say he’s a modern day polymath - like Leonardo Da Vinci before him he loves illustrating, writing and thinking - you’ll often see him carrying around heavily bound notebooks wherever he goes. But unlike Da Vinci, he also loves video games and secretly wants to win X-Factor.
Emily McNabb
Senior Software Developer
Emily McNabb is a Senior Software Developer at City Science. She began her career as an apprentice in software development and has never stopped learning since. She is always looking for a challenge and for something to get her teeth stuck into. Emily is currently located in the Northampton area and loves to spend as much time as she can with her wife and daughter. In her spare time she is an avid gamer, DIYer and tinkerer of all things electrical.
Nick Maynard
SUPPORT & DEVOPS ENGINEER
Nick is our support & DevOps engineer. He brings over 14 years of experience with a vast knowledge of IT infrastructure and systems improvement, specialising in Microsoft and Office 365. He is a colossal Lego collector who owns more than 163 sets and over 500 mini-figures, and one day would like to build a working computer from Lego.
Chris Underwood PhD
SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Chris is a scientific software developer at City Science. He joined from the University of York where he was completing his PhD on laser-driven particle acceleration in the Fusion Centre for Doctoral Training. Although making electrons travel very fast was highly enjoyable, Chris is now turning his skills to a more pressing need, decarbonisation of transport and energy systems. Outside of work Chris is a keen outdoors enthusiast, spending his weekends getting cold and damp climbing mountains and crags all around the UK.
Sarah Felfel
HR BUSINESS PARTNER
Sarah partners with the team from a people perspective. She feels very fortunate to be able to mix her passion for shaping, building and developing people plans, initiatives and structures whilst at the same time knowing this will enable big and vital change to the way our city functions. Sarah is passionate about enabling businesses reach their highest potential through their people. Her enthusiasm, sense of humour and structured, pragmatic style make her the HR Business Partner you dream of. She’s also an awesome dancer, still waiting for her call up to Strictly, and until that happens, she spends her time keeping fit through boxing, circuits and Pilates.
Lucie Roberts
RECRUITMENT MANAGER
Lucie is the Recruitment Manager for City Science. She is constantly looking for talent to join the team. Most days you will see her flying around the building interviewing candidates, running assessment days and working closely with the senior managers and CEO. She is passionate about the environment and sustainability and how we can all work together to make cities a better place to live. In her spare time, Lucie likes to walk on Dartmoor, grow her own food and spend time with her family although dreams about owning a field of alpacas.
Lia Palosanu (she/her)
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Lia is a software developer at City Science. She joined from the University of Essex where she studied Computer Science. After travelling South-East Asia during her year abroad, she discovered her passion for tackling the climate crisis. As a result, her final year project was focused on environmental conservation using machine learning. She hopes to use her skills in the race to net-zero. In her spare time, she likes to play video games, go on hikes and spend time with friends and family.
Sarah McCoy
SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Sarah is a scientific software developer at City Science. Before joining the team, she worked within the Education sector, where she taught Maths alongside her data analysis and IT training roles. Prior to this, she completed her degree in Maths from the University of Exeter. Sarah brings together her love of problem-solving, numerical skills and her passion for tackling climate change within her work. She is currently located in Brighton and Hove and enjoys runs along the beach, long walks in the South Downs and exploring the City with friends and family.
Joe Fuller-Gray
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Joe is a software developer at City Science. He used to work for a utilities asset manager as a GIS developer, where he learned his craft. Before that, he read Computer Science at the University of Essex. He lives on a small farm in Fenland where he keeps chickens and grows vegetables, keeping his Dachshund, Pointer, and farm cat company.
Lucy Champ
CARBON ACCOUNTANT
Lucy joined City Science in April 2023 as a Carbon Accountant. Lucy is a CIMA qualified accountant, prior to City Science Lucy completed a three-year graduate scheme with Ocado Retail where she studied for her accountancy qualification. Whilst completing her graduate scheme she and gained experience business partnering with their internal sustainability team. Through her experience working with the sustainability team Lucy realised that she wanted to pursue a more purpose led career particularly in Carbon Accounting. Outside of work you'll find Lucy swimming, biking, and running or enjoying time with friends and family.
Maia Priestley
GRADUATE SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT
After graduating in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the University of Leeds, Maia is excited to bring her passion for sustainability to City Science as a Graduate Sustainability Consultant. With a drive to make a difference both through her career and daily life, she applies her skills gained through her studies to create a greener future. In her gap year after University, Maia solo travelled to South East Asia which heightened her dedication to sustainability, fuelling a stronger desire to make a positive impact. Outside of work, Maia enjoys cooking vegan food, exercising at the gym and spending time with friends.
Tomas Maranon Finbow MEng
DATA SCIENTIST
Tomas completed his master’s degree in Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol. His master’s dissertation focused on pedestrian modelling and dynamical systems. After a period as a Transport consultant, he realised his true passion was for data analysis and modelling. This led him to City Science where he can enjoy focussing on this area of expertise. In his free time, he likes travelling back to his hometown in Spain to be with family and friends. He considers himself a lifelong learner and relishes trying out new activities.