Heather has a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Reading and a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. During her PhD she did a 3 month fellowship at the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology in the UK on climate change and agriculture. Following her PhD, she worked at the Walker Institute as an Interdisciplinary Research Fellow for 2 years, including projects on climate risk analysis, groundwater and integrating flood forecasting with impact assessments to support disaster risk reduction work.
In 2021, Heather joined Green Alliance, an environmental charity and think tank based in Westminster, UK, as a policy analyst. She was promoted to senior policy analyst in 2023, and is currently working as head of research (job share). She works on topics including industrial decarbonisation, North Sea oil and gas, critical raw materials needed for the net zero transition, integrating nature into our economic system and the transition to a circular economy.