Rachel Steenson
BSc, MSc, PhD
Rachel Steenson
BSc, MSc, PhDData Analyst
Silviculture, wood properties and genetics
Northern Research Station
About Rachel Steenson
Rachel has a BSc in Biology from the University of Stirling, and an MSc in Quantitative Methods in Biodiversity, Conservation & Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow.
She completed her PhD at the University of Stirling in 2024, which investigated the environmental basis for spatial and temporal change in riverine bird populations. Rachel has worked in technical scientific research across a range of subject areas (including ecology, epidemiology and forestry), with a large focus on managing fieldwork campaigns, developing processing pipelines for complex datasets and conducting statistical analyses.
She joined Forest Research in May 2025 as a Data Analyst.
What Rachel does
Rachel currently works on a CPF project that aims to develop our understanding of how structural diversification could support forest resilience against our changing climate, particularly with regards to drought. This largely involves managing the field campaigns and subsequent sample processing for WP1 (combining dendrochronology and remote sensing), whilst providing support for WP3 (timber properties).
Previously, Rachel worked on investigating the potential for emerging and alternate tree species to adapt our forests to future British climates, utilising a network of experiments established under the REINFFORCE1 project.
Affiliations
Member of the British Ecological Society