For International Women’s Day (March 8th), as we did on Women in Science Day (February 11th), we are highlighting some of the inspiring women who are driving research in the green roofs and green walls business.
Globally only 33% of researchers are women, according to the UN.
We believe that women are also underrepresented in the Green Roof and Green Walls business, as across the construction generally. As a business that is owned by a woman, Charlotte Pritchard, Pritchard & Pritchard is doing what we can to change that.
#InspireInclusion. #IWD2024. #WomenInScience.
Please contact us or comment below to nominate other green roof / wall researchers who we should be included here.
Jennifer Bousselot, Green Roof / Rooftop Agrivoltaics Researcher, Horticulturist
Jennifer Bousselot is assistant professor at Colorado State University in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Professor Bousselot has studied green roof species selection, water use and substrates in Colorado for over 10 years. She leads the Colorado State University Green Roof and Urban Agriculture Program which explores new and innovative ways to improve the productivity and aesthetics of modern urban. She runs several green roof research programs including at Fort Collins: 1) A comparison of Nutrien green roof, and a directly adjacent ground-level research garden planted with the same species; 2) A peri-urban rooftop biosolar / agrivoltaic system, and a simulated green roof system was installed under existing solar panels; and 3) in Denver, two green roof systems (Hydro and Terra) and an expansive greenhouse to show how abundant and unused roof spaces in urban areas can be used for plant and food production. In this TedX, talk Professor Bousselot presents her research on biosolar roofs / agrivoltaics and the impact of green roof spaces on urban spaces.
Nathalie Baumann, Urban Ecologist
Nathalie Baumann is an urban ecologist and lecturer and researcher, at the Environment and Natural Resource Sciences Institute of the Department Life Sciences and Facility Management in Zurich (Zurich University of Applied Sciences). Her areas of expertise are promotion and protection of urban biodiversity, environmental and nature protection, climate adaptation, integral, and ecosystemic planning. She is Deputy Head of the Green Space Development Research Group which researches and establishes tailor-made planning and management tools for natural open spaces and green interior spaces, which helps drive ecological potential, promote urban biodiversity and ensure attractive design. Her research projects have included studying biodiversity on green roofs and the establishment of ground-nesting birds on green roofs and studying how the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan has led to the greening of buildings (facades and roofs), in Switzerland and how this helps compensate for diminishing green spaces, providing habitats for flora and fauna. In this presentation, Baumann discusses biodiversity and green roofs in Switzerland.
Marjorie Musy, Research Director
Marjorie Musy is Research Director at Center for studies and expertise on risks, environment, mobility and planning (CEREMA) which is the French public agency responsible for developing public expertise in the fields of urban planning, regional cohesion and ecological and energy transition.
Her main area of research interests is intersection between building physics (energy) and urban physics (urban climate), including the impacts of green walls and roofs on buildings’ energy consumption and indoor comfort. She has been developing models to evaluate the environment performance of green infrastructure and is coordinating the development of the urban microclimate simulation software SOLENE-microclimat, a tool that measures the urban planning impact green walls and roofs. She co-ordinated VegDUD a major French research project that studied the impact of vegetation on climatic, thermal and hydrology issues. Musy is currently the Scientific Director of the Nature4Cities H2020 European research project, which aims to create a web platform of references of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) implementations. NBS are responses to societal challenges, capable of simultaneously meeting environmental, social and economic, inspired by or copied from nature.
In the video Marjorie Musy discusses the Nature4Cities project.
Dr Caroline Nash, Ecological Consultant, Sustainability Researcher
Dr Caroline Nash is an ecological consultant, with an emphasis on protected species surveys, primarily bat and bird surveys and planning reports. She is a Green Infrastructure Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Sustainability Research Institute, at the University of East London. She specialises in biodiversity conservation and developing urban green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to environmental problems using the process of ecomimicry. She is an expert in brownfield-inspired green infrastructure and her research has led to the creation of many state-of-the-art green roofs. She worked with Natural England and Buglife (invertebrate conservation trust) to research Open Mosaic Habitats (priority habitat that supports important declining invertebrate communities), which helped improve the biodiversity of new developments in East London. She is currently working on the Connecting Nature EU Horizon 2020 project, which supports cities across Europe to improve deliver nature-based solutions to problems like flooding. Her PHD focused on a multi-year study of London’s Olympic Park biosolar roof.
In this video (start at 1:02:26), Dr Nash explains the process of ecomimicry and how it is being applied to redevelopment in East London, Open Mosaic Habitats and London’s Olympic Park biosolar roof.
Dr. Olyssa Starry, Urban Ecologist, Plant and Environmental Scientist
Dr. Olyssa Starry is Assistant Professor in Urban Ecology at Portland State University. Her research focuses on stormwater management and green roofs. She has run experiments to study the run off from different types of green roof vegetation, using sensors and the impact of green roofs on users of building, focused on hospitals. She has also studied the impact of green roofs on the homogenization of wildlife communities in cities, focusing on beetle populations on green roofs.
The video explains how she uses tools to measure the ability of green roof plants to hold water, photosynthesise and the impact of green roofs on the quality of air coming into building.
Cristina Matos Silva, Civil Engineer, Construction Sustainability Researcher
Cristina Matos Silva is a civil engineer and an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, where she lectures in building physics and building facilities. Her research focuses on Sustainability in Construction, particularly the evaluation of green roofs and living walls – including the economic evaluation, thermal and acoustic performance and maintenance planning in a Mediterranean climate. She is also an expert in evaluating the efficiency of rainwater harvesting systems, particularly when combined with green roof solutions. She is a of founding member of the Portuguese Green Roof Association and is a member the Portuguese Technical Committees for green roofing and rainwater harvesting systems in buildings. She is a member of The Green Infrastructures Group (GI Group) which is hosted by the Research Center of Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability (CERIS), which focuses on the economic analysis of green roofs and green walls, comparison of alternative solutions, maintenance and quantifying the benefits of green infrastructure and their applicability to different infrastructures (e.g., public buildings, private buildings, transport infrastructures).
Chiara Catalano, Architect, Ecological Designer and Environmental Scientist
Chiara Catalano Is a Licensed Architect, Ecological Landscape Designer and Environmental Scientist at the Italian National Research Council. Her research focuses on urban vegetation patterns, nature-based solutions in the implementation of green infrastructure, including biodiversity friendly buildings and urban open areas. She researches what we can learn from the way plants build dynamic communities in order to plan greener, more resilient and liveable cities. Her papers include a study of the need to improve Green roof guidelines on biodiversity, biodiversity on extensive green roofs, and the benefits of informal landscapes vs those designed by landscape architects.
Pictured: Chiara Catalano’s book: Urban Services to Ecosystems: Green Infrastructure Benefits from the Landscape to the Urban Scale, published 2021.
