Dan's current role, as Associate Director at Ethos Environmental Planning, is focused on biodiversity net gain and other nature based solutions. He provides advice to developers, local planning authorities and landowners on how to deliver biodiversity net gain through the planning process. He is currently working on a number of habitat bank projects in southern England, as well as looking at how different environmental objectives (e.g. protected species or protected sites mitigation) can be implemented alongside biodiversity net gain.

After completing his PhD in Soil Science, Dan started his career in academia working on soil biodiversity projects in the New Forest and Malaysia with the Natural History Museum, London. Stints in Local Government as a biodiversity officer and projects manager for a Local Environmental Records Centre followed, before he secured his current role.

Dan is interested in developing his career in two areas. First in biodiversity net gain, ensuring that biodiversity outcomes are delivered while providing effective solutions for development. Second in the use of technology to support ecology and nature conservation outcomes. Dan is working on how to apply digital technologies to ecology and nature conservation to deliver improved outcomes for the environment. 

Dan chose the IES as his professional institute because it covers a wide range of disciplines relevant to natural capital and nature-based solutions. Membership has exposed him to a wide range of different information and experience which has been a benefit in conversations with clients and design teams. He became a member of the IES in 2016 and a Chartered Environmentalist in 2019.