Nikki is responsible for the operational management of the Centre, its portfolio of projects and policy-research engagement activities. Nikki's background is in ecohydrology and project management at the science-policy interface. 

With eight years of experience working at the science-policy interface within CREW, first as a Project Manager then as Deputy CREW Manager, Nikki manages the Centre, its portfolio of projects, and engagement with a wide range of policy makers, regulators, industry and academic researchers across Scotland's water community, along side the CREW Director, to achieve CREW's aims and ambitions.

Nikki's academic background is in Physical Geography (BSc, University of Sheffield) and Ecohydrology (PhD, University of Leeds). Her PhD, titled ‘Modelling the ecohydrology of moorland hillslopes’, investigated the effect of muirburn (heather burning) on the ecohydrological functioning of upland temperate hillslopes and combined field-based monitoring with a laboratory experiment and numerical modelling.

Nikki has been based at the James Hutton Institute since 2010, initially to conduct fieldwork and laboratory work for her PhD, and since 2013 as a member of staff within the Environmental and Biochemical Sciences group.  In her role as CREW Manager, Nikki draws on her experiences of coordinating field and laboratory work to support research related to water quality, natural flood management and environmental monitoring; research and commercial contracts related to water quality and wind farms, river restoration, macronutrients, and; business development activities within James Hutton Limited, the Institute’s commercial subsidiary.