Academic Background
Eleanor holds a PhD in Environmental Research, an MSc in Environmental Change and Management, and a BA in Geography from the University of Oxford.
Prior to completing her PhD, Eleanor worked as a Research Scholar at Northern Arizona University.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Teaching Areas
- Earth System Processes
- Earth System Dynamics
- Environmental Geography
- Geographical Techniques
- Remote Sensing of the Biosphere
Research Interests
- Biogeography
- Remote sensing
- Machine learning
- Tropical forests
Eleanor is a postdoctoral researcher in ecological remote sensing. She is currently working on a Bertarelli Marine Science Project investigating the importance of seabird nutrients to terrestrial and marine island ecosystems. The project works closely with local partners in the Seychelles and French Polynesia to support tropical island conservation and restoration. Drone and satellite imagery is used to scale up field measurements across islands.
Alongside her academic research, Eleanor is a Lead Technologist at Gentian Ltd – a green start-up using AI and satellite imagery to assess biodiversity and green infrastructure assets and monitor land use change.
Non-Academic Information
Eleanor is co-founder of the Oxford Drone Society and enjoys flying her own drone in Oxford and further afield.
Publications
- Thomson, E.R., Spiegel, M.P., Althuizen, I.H., et al. (2021) Multiscale mapping of plant functional groups and plant traits in the High Arctic using field spectroscopy, UAV imagery and Sentinel-2A data. Environmental Research Letters, 16(5), 055006.
- Thomson, E.R., Malhi, Y., Bartholomeus, H., et al. (2018) Mapping the leaf economic spectrum across West African tropical forests using UAV-acquired hyperspectral imagery. Remote Sensing, 10(10), 1532.
- Doughty, C.E., Cheesman, A.W., Riutta, T., Thomson, E.R., Shenkin, A., Nottingham, A.T., Telford, E.M., Huasco, W., Majalap, N., Arn Teh, Y. and Meir, P. (2021) Predicting tropical tree mortality with leaf spectroscopy. Biotropica, 53(2): 581-595. Winner of the 2022 Biotropica paper of the year award.
- Duporge, I., Spiegel, M.P., Thomson, E.R., Chapman, T., Lamberth, C., Pond, C., Macdonald, D.W., Wang, T. and Klinck, H. (2021) Determination of optimal flight altitude to minimise acoustic drone disturbance to wildlife using species audiograms. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12(11): 2196-2207.
Links
See also the School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE) & Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab website