Ceri has a background in timber processing, having graduated with a degree in Wood Science from Bangor University.  During her early career and more recently, she spent time working at The Biocomposites Centre at Bangor University principally on commercial research projects for the wood based panels sector.

Ceri has worked on numerous UK and European funded research projects, many of which have related to the development of wood based or bio based products for the construction sector.  Ceri has spent time in New Zealand, being based at Forest Research in Rotorua, where her work focused on understanding the impact of resin distribution on wood panel properties. More recently she has spent 2 years working with The Natural Building Centre where she was the bursary officer, supporting apprentices and arranging placements within in the heritage construction sector.

Louise Townsend is a leading figure in the sustainability and social value sectors, with a proven track record of shaping and embedding social value frameworks across the UK construction industry. Since 2014, she led the development and implementation of Morgan Sindall Group’s Social Value (SV) framework. Her work will be instrumental in aligning the company’s activities with broader sustainability goals, driving positive social and environmental impacts within communities.

As a member of the Just Transition working group for HM Treasury’s Transition Plan Taskforce, Louise played a key role in advising on the government’s national disclosure framework. Her work ensures that the transition to a low-carbon economy prioritises social and economic well-being, aiming to establish a global gold standard in sustainability reporting.

Louise’s leadership has been widely recognised within the industry. In 2020, she was awarded the Social Value Individual Leadership Award, acknowledging her contributions to the field. She also co-created the National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) in collaboration with central government, a pivotal tool in measuring and reporting social value in public procurement, which at the time when it was launched helped public and private sector beeter understand how Social value and sustainability could be represented in public procurements.

Louise’s career is defined by her commitment to integrating sustainability, diversity, and community engagement into business practices, ensuring that social value remains at the core of organisational growth and industry transformation.

Rachel is the Head of Networks for Woodknowledge Wales. Her role will be to work with the Communities of Practice (CoPs) and support membership development, events and training.

Rachel’s background is in architecture, urban design and construction. She worked for a South Wales contractor for 11years starting as a trainee engineer, and rising to Site Manager. With a passion for developing skills and training within the industry she later went on to work for Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as a local manger gaining insight to industry needs across Wales. Her most recent role was with Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC) at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) as a Net Zero Industry Support Manager. As Head of Networks, Rachel will continue to develop the relationship between Woodknowledge Wales and CWIC.

Clara joined Woodknowledge Wales to familiarise herself with embodied carbon and explore new ways to become more proactive and help facilitate change within the construction industry towards better choices and design. 

She has a background in architecture and urban design with professional experience particularly in the residential sector working across a variety of scales with housing associations, councils, volume housebuilders as well as private clients. Her broad background reflects her interest in the built environment as a setting for everyday life, which has led her on a quest to find ways to challenge standard solutions and traditional ways of working in order to make that ‘everyday’ sustainable for the planet in the long term.

Toby is a structural engineer with a diverse career engineering everything from oil platforms and concert halls to handbags.  He established the successful TALL Engineers in 2005 that went on to build a reputation for providing practical yet technically sophisticated and holistic solutions to diverse projects in the built environment and concentrating on design from first principles, with the firm increasingly concentrating on timber as a structural material.  Having sold this firm, in 2020 Toby established Allt Environmental to atone for past carbon sins and to address the urgent need to decarbonise the built environment especially in relation to embodied carbon. 

Since Allt was established Toby has mixed project work, research and consultancy, with a focus in understanding the environmental impacts of timber in construction.

John Sweeny is chair of the small sawmillers community of practice.

Born in Ireland, John grew up in Wales while still spending most of his childhood summers on his grandparents’ small dairy farm in Southern Ireland. There he found his connection with the land but also witnessed first-hand the impact of intensified agricultural over the years. As an adult, he served in the Air Force for seven years, then spent five years in the Arctic and Antarctic regions where navigating through the glacial meltwaters opened his eyes to climate change. He turned to forestry so he could continue to work out of doors and now focuses on work that allows him to contribute to decarbonisation and positive change for future generations.

Heddwyn Bye is a Researcher at Bangor University. His Masters focuses on quantifying the value of farm woodlands for timber products and carbon using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, or ground-based LiDAR). Trees growing in woodlands on farms are a potentially valuable, yet underutilised source of timber. Heddwyn will first evaluate traditional methods of measuring or estimating the value of these trees. He will then apply recent LiDAR scanning developments to develop more efficient and accurate methods to quantify the value of these trees in terms of timber products and carbon.

Sarah M Lawton is the Communications Manager for Woodknowledge Wales, working for the individuals, communities and businesses involved in the purposeful development of the nation’s forest industries. Sarah is passionate about collecting and sharing stories with the power to drive real behavioural change. She is also taking a part time MRes in Media and Journalism with Bangor University.