Dr Jess Kitch

I am an academic with a physical geography background, with expertise in using sediment fingerprinting to identify sources of in-channel sediment. I also have experience using GIS and use these skills in my current role in the CaSTCo project with CREWW and SWW. In my current role with CaSTCo, I am assitiing with identifying areas for nature based solutions to help reduce surface runoff entering the combined sewers in the Tamar catchment.

I studied geography at the University of Plymouth, and then joined the 'Making soil erosion understandable and governable at the river basin scale for food, water and hydropower sustainability in Latin America' research project as a research technician at the University of Plymouth. I started my second research technician post in 2019 with the University of Plymouth and the SIGMA research project investigating sediment dynamics in the Andes and the impacts on the Water-food-energy security nexus. This also led me on to a PhD titled 'Andean sediment response to natural and anthropogenic changes at the catchment scale'. I then moved to the University of Exeter as a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with SWEEP before moving to the CaSTCo project in 2023. I now work on the PEDAL and WiRe projects where I use GIS spatial analysis to explore and understand the impacts of large wood in rivers for WiRe. And for PEDAL I will help build and develop a digital twin that can be used to assist water companies in early Algal bloom detection.