Profile
Dr Michelle Spruce
Research Data Fellow
I am currently working for the University of Exeter in a PostDoctoral position as Research Data Fellow for the Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) project: https://greenfutures.exeter.ac.uk/access/. The ACCESS project aims to champion social science in helping to tackle and solve environmental problems.
I completed my PhD in 2022, having worked on projects to detect, locate and understand the impact of environmental hazards using social media for my PhD research, supervised by Prof Hywel Williams. In particular I am interested in the social impacts of extreme weather events.
Projects completed during my PhD included:
- Collation of Twitter data on named storms in the UK to understand the impacts from such events, such as changes in sentiment and type of Twitter posts.
- Working with the Met Office to produce Global Hazard Maps using Twitter data, detecting, locating and understanding the impacts of these events as described by Twitter users.
- Using social media to understand the impacts of high temperatures during heatwaves in cities, in particular the impact on disadvantaged communities to identify where interventiion and support may be needed.
A bit about me:
I graduated in 2001 with a First Class Physics degree from Durham University then worked in the Met Office as an Operational Meteorologist for the RAF. Since leaving the Met Office I have worked in both the private and public sectors, spending 12 years working as a Data Analyst and Strategic Planning manager at the University of Chester, Manchester Metropolitan University and most recently the University of Exeter. Having completed a Masters Degree in Information Systems (with distinction) in 2015 I returned to full time study in 2017and completed an EPSRC funded PhD.