WHO IS BEHIND THE HUB...
Sally-Ann Spence is Berrycroft Hub’s founder and the inspiration behind the many projects that go on here.
With boundless enthusiasm, suitable facilities and a passion for educational outreach and science communication, Sally-Ann has gathered together a truly fantastic team of experts in their various fields delivering exceptional workshops in her purpose built workshops and classrooms. The range of research projects Berrycroft Hub hosts has also grown supporting students from both the U.K. and abroad. Sally-Ann herself is an informed and engaging science educator, presenter, entomologist, ecologist and farmer in her own right who has spent many years enthusing children and adults alike with all the wonders of the natural world. She also has a lifelong interest in humanities with a curiosity cupboard taking centre space in every room and several archaeological sites on her farm. Sally-Ann is a Fellow of both the Royal Entomological Society and The Linnean Society as well as a trustee of the Yorkshire Natural History Museum. She is a member of the Verrall Association of Entomologists and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Dung Beetle Specialist Group. She was the principal organiser of EntoSci16, the world's first entomological conference specifically for Key Stage 4, sixth formers and college students held at Harper Adams University. Moreover Sally-Ann is an active researcher, specialising in land management, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. She is a co-founder of the Dung Beetle UK Mapping Project (DUMP), focusing on one of Britain's most endangered and yet highly useful insect groups. Her work with the DUMP project has seen her surveying field sites all over the UK including, and often focusing on, its many outlying islands including the Channel Islands. This practical experience has been translated into a variety of collaborative projects working on sustainable land management plans within the farming community to promote dung beetles as important bio-indicators for soil, pasture and livestock health. Sally-Ann is also a founding member of Dung Beetles for Farmers (DBFF) taking dung beetle research and conservation advice directly onto farms. Passionate to encourage the next generation, Sally-Ann mentors many young people and has set up a network of fellow scientists to support and guide them in their various chosen fields. Keen to increase factual engagement with wider audiences, she writes a multitude of articles for magazines and also works as a consultant on various books including the Dorling Kindersley range and even on the subject of eating insects with the BBC's food scientist Stefan Gates. Always game for adventure, Sally-Ann has wing walked on a biplane, flown gliders and light aircraft, driven racing and rally cars, tanks and lorries. She has parachuted out of planes, climbed up mountains, abseiled and skied down them, kayaked rivers and sailed coastlines, as well as a keen clay shooter and horse rider, it's fair to say she relishes challenges! Sally-Ann can litterally be found anywhere from 60 meters underground collecting the excretion of a sulphur eating microorganism to flying in a helicopter tracing fragmented habitats or driving a tractor helping to get the harvest in. Known for her media work on television and radio as well as presenting pod casts on a variety of natural history subjects, Sally-Ann also keeps her own Wiltshire Horn sheep flock and a Belted Galloway cattle herd. She is using these animals to actively research management plans for calcareous grassland restoration on the North Wessex Downs. From talking about entomological subjects live on BBC Breakfast to working on prime time shows such as Channel 4’s Extreme Chocolate Makers and Channel 5's A Farm Through Time, Sally-Ann has presented in front of camera both in the UK and abroad sharing her passion for the natural world and archaeology. She is also a science presenter delivering a series of STEM programmes live into schools and on educational channels. Splitting her time between all of the above, outreach events and the many collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, delivering advisory workshops, lecturing in universities and speaking at conferences, Sally-Ann is an enthusiastic and inspiring advocate for education, connecting communities, sustainable agriculture, supporting young people and engaging everyone in our amazing natural world. |