A Welsh-founded environmental data consultancy, based in Aberystwyth and Edinburgh, that uses satellite imagery and modelling to help manage land, nature and food supply.
Environment Systems is a consultancy that uses data analysis, geoinformatics and Earth observation (satellite pictures of the planet) to help people make decisions about land and the environment. It offers natural capital strategies, which means putting a clear value on what nature provides, along with nature-based solutions, crop forecasting, environment and crop monitoring, and studies of how climate change may affect land. One of its named products is PeatSCOPE, a national peatland restoration service that helps clients choose which sites to restore first. Its clients include the Scottish Government, NatureScot, local councils and National Park authorities.
The company says it was set up in 2003 to meet a lack of timely, good-quality evidence for environmental and agricultural decisions. Its stated aim is to contribute 'to the preservation of natural landscapes and food supply chains for future generations', and to become a leading supplier of evidence and insight from environmental and agricultural data. Steve Keyworth is named as founder and director, leading business and product development and international growth. Jacqueline Parker leads sustainability and climate change work and has presented at COP26 and the Paris Peace Forum.
Its home is Aberystwyth in Wales, where an Aberystwyth University careers page puts it at Cefn Llan Science Park. The company also works from the University of Edinburgh's Bayes Centre, chosen partly because of existing ties with the university, and has worked in Scotland since 2007. A directory profile mentions three UK offices and a subsidiary in Colombia, though one staff biography mentions four offices, so the exact list should be checked. Staff estimates differ: one biography says about 40 staff and a business directory lists 11 to 50 employees.
On culture, the company describes building its team of data scientists, software engineers, ecologists, and natural capital and agricultural specialists as its biggest achievement, and says it values networking with like-minded people through the Bayes Centre community. It has long-standing links with universities: in 2011 it sponsored four one-year scholarships and a PhD at Aberystwyth University, with master's students doing placements on real projects, and a later university careers post said it was interested in software engineers and data science and AI graduates. These are the company's own accounts, and some of the sources are dated.
The mix of jobs in a firm like this is broad. There are geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing specialists, data scientists, software engineers, ecologists, agricultural experts and project managers, as well as sales and administrative staff. It is a route into space data for people who care about nature, farming, climate or the countryside as much as technology. The company's own website, envsys.co.uk, is the place to check its current offices and projects.
Website: www.envsys.co.uk
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