Andrea is Chief Executive at MGET. She has been involved with MGET from its early days, when MGET supported her PhD at Salford University in 2014. On completing her PhD in 2017, she became Biodiversity Manager, working in the role until 2022 when she became Chief Executive. She therefore has the unique perspective of having worked with MGET through several different roles.

As well as being a wealth of knowledge of the Mersey estuary and working hard to ensure MGET are involved in influencing decisions that will impact the estuary, Andrea is a fantastic colleague and leader of MGET. Her guidance ensures that our small team work closely together and with external stakeholders to do what is best for the Mersey estuary environment.

Below, we explore Andrea’s story at MGET, and she shares her experiences in her roles.

PhD work:

Andrea’s PhD is where her journey with MGET began. Below, she explains what led to her to working on the Mersey estuary for the PhD, and what exactly she studied:

‘Before I started my PhD, I studied environmental resource management (B.Sc.) and water resource management (M.Sc.) and worked a bit in research. When I saw the opportunity to apply for the PhD, it combined my previous interests of how water courses could be managed, how aquatic systems work and how the interaction of humans and nature shape how we use and protect them.

My PhD looked at the ecosystem services in the Mersey estuary. Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans get from nature, for example, raw materials and food. Estuaries provide flood protection and carbon storage but also include aspects like recreation and health and well-being. For the PhD, I assessed which ecosystem services are most important for the Mersey estuary and developed scenarios of how these services might change under different circumstances. For example, what would happen with investment in nature, if things were to stay as they are, or if there was more development. The reason for the PhD was to identify how ecosystem services could be preserved and mitigated in the different scenarios.’

Andrea working on the Latchford canal at Wigg Island

Litter pick at Widnes Warth as part of the Plastic Resolution project

Biodiversity manager:

Having spent a long time studying the Mersey estuary, Andrea developed an in-depth understanding of its workings, securing her a job as MGET’s Biodiversity Manager upon graduating. We asked Andrea what this role looked like for her, and the three things she is most proud of having achieved in this role:

‘I am proud to have worked very closely with the research board, helping to drive forward the research element of the Trust and setting up research projects from undergrad to PhD. I also ran one of the first projects that MGET received external funding for – the Plastic Resolution project. I was also able to establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders that we still have today.’

Andrea’s time as Biodiversity Manager set the basis of a lot of the work MGET carry out today. The role was quite different to that of her current Chief Executive role; we asked her how the current role is different:

‘My role now is about making sure to work with the Board of Trustees to lead the charity in the right direction to be able to fulfil the charities objectives, ensure the charity is compliant with all regulatory and contractual requirements and provide the day-to-day management on the ground. I do spend more time at my desk than in my previous role, but that hopefully means that the MGET team are enabled to work on their ideas, projects and ambitions, which make MGET the successful charity it is. It has certainly been a steep learning curve in the last three years and that is one of the most interesting aspects of the job.’

Chief executive:

Being Chief Executive of MGET is a role Andrea ‘enjoys a lot’, she ‘loves that she gets to do what she’s passionate about.’ Andrea’s passion for nature and collaborative working are clear to all who work with her, as she is always busy meeting with external stakeholders and sharing her knowledge and ideas for the Mersey estuary. We asked Andrea to describe an average day working for MGET:

‘Luckily, there is no average day at MGET. It can be anything from planning conservation activities, meeting stakeholders, discussing on-going projects or ideas with the team, or the odd day of buckling down to write reports and do all those tasks that are necessary to run a charity. I love this mix of activities and seeing what we have achieved over the year.

‘The most challenging thing is to know where to start. There are so many ideas and causes we could work on, prioritising is difficult.’  Andrea works hard with the MGET team and board of trustees to prioritise which practical conservation work should be carried out, which local and national groups MGET should be a part of, and which research projects university students should undertake. As a small team of 3, Andrea is proud of all we are able to achieve, which she shares below:

‘I am most proud of my team and the difference they make: their actions make such a positive difference to the local environment; but most importantly, they bring passion, enthusiasm and brilliant ideas to the Trust. I am also proud of the things that we have learned in the last few years: from the research projects, being on site, and talking to many people about estuaries and their experience with living around the Mersey estuary and working with the complex features of the estuarine system.’

Andrea accepting an award for the work of MGET

Andrea on a wellbeing walk overlooking the Mersey estuary

Connection to the Mersey estuary

Having dedicated over 10 years of her life to studying and working to protect the Mersey estuary, Andrea feels a strong connection to the area and has learned a lot about its history and ecology. We asked her what her favourite thing about the Mersey is:

‘That is a difficult one! I love how the Mersey creates this feeling of ‘home’, a connectedness to the landscape, nature, the people and the region itself. I have only lived near the Mersey for 7 years now, but it has become my home.’

Andrea would like everyone to know ‘that there is much more to the Mersey than meets the eye. The Mersey is much more than a brown river that carries the legacy of the industrial revolution, it is a lifeline for many species of plants and animals, as well as for us humans, which needs protecting and looking after for everyone.’