Welcoming our new Centre Director, Ailsa Henderson
And other July 2024 updates…
We are delighted to announce and welcome Ailsa Henderson as the new Centre Director at Sophia Point. Ailsa joins with over 15 years of experience in landscape conservation, forest management and biodiversity science. She has worked across numerous countries including Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar as well as landscapes across the North of England. She has previously studied bats, lemurs, baboons and butterflies and so is excited to explore the rainforest of Guyana and contribute to emerging science. Ailsa brings a fantastic energy and skillset to help lead Sophia Point into the next stage of operations.
Ailsa and Sam spent a month together at Sophia Point to support a handover process. She joins at an incredibly exciting time with the completion of the building and the arrival of the first groups to use the centre. Ailsa has got to work straight away and has already hosted two groups of visiting students from the University of Guyana, orchestrated the planting of our new fruit garden and is busy making preparations for an important upcoming event. Ailsa has a number of other priorities in her first phase of leading the charity with a focus on overseeing the rehabilitation of land surrounding the building, furthering the early work establishing research partnerships and developing Sophia Point’s programme of activities.
Founding Centre Director Sam Airey completes role
At the end of April, Sam Airey completed his four year role as Centre Director with Sophia Point. Sam worked from initiation of the project, helping establish the Sophia Point Rainforest Research Centre alongside co-founders Nicola Green and David Lammy.
Beginning in 2020, Sam helped raise over $1.5M, rehabilitated the site, oversaw the design and construction of the research centre, and established the foundations and partnerships for science and environmental education at Sophia Point. This has been a long, challenging and rewarding journey for Sam and his partner Miranda Bragan-Turner who took on a supporting role with visiting students, education engagement and communications for the charity.
Both Sam and Miranda loved living at Sophia Point and are incredibly grateful for the support they have received from so many in the UK and in Guyana during that time. Particular thanks goes to Nicola Green, Chair of Trustees, River’s View neighbours who welcomed Sam and Miranda from the start, and the board of trustees in Guyana and the UK who helped make the vision become a reality. Sam and Miranda will remain close to the charity, championing the next stages of this exciting journey for environmental education and conservation.
First students experience the new Sophia Point facilities
Hot on the heels of completing the construction of our brand new research centre we welcomed students and researchers from our partner, the University of Guyana.
In April, we first hosted Angelique, a final year undergraduate student carrying out her research project on frog species. Her field trip was supported by lecturers Mark and Diana from the Centre for the Study of Biodiversity and fellow student Abigail. They spent nine days over two visits looking at the diversity of frog life across Sophia Point. Lots of interesting sightings were made!
This was followed by a final year undergraduate zoology class of 15 students led by Professor Calvin Bernard. We could not have hoped for a better group as our first large users of the centre. They spent five days on site setting camera traps as well as bird and bat mist nets, learning vital field skills. For some this was their first ever field trip despite studying biology for several years, underlining the important contribution of Sophia Point - providing an accessible site for students.
Chair of Trustees Nicola Green visits Sophia Point
As part of the handover process to welcome Ailsa Henderson to the team, Nicola Green travelled to Guyana to spend a week in country. During her packed agenda, Nicola and Ailsa visited the former Toshao (community leader) of River’s View Melena Pollard, met with key partners and stakeholders, sourced equipment and furniture for the centre, and worked with trustees René Edwards and Priya Maharaj to plan future student visits and extend education opportunities.
Nicola was delighted to see the research centre for the first time, the culmination of many years of hard work. She also reviewed the building completion with the structural engineer and with contractor Indar Ramllal. Nicola was able to identify snagging and minor works to be completed, whilst working with Ailsa to develop a building maintenance plan.
Visit from the Regional Education Department
At the heart of Sophia Point’s mission is providing access to education. This is not limited to the university setting and we are excited to work with primary and secondary schools to support young learners to immerse themselves in the rainforest. To achieve this, Education Outreach Officer Miranda recently arranged hosting a delegation from the regional Ministry for Education, including the Regional Education Officer, Seleste La Rose. The day was a great opportunity to present the facilities of the centre, explore the trails and discuss opportunities for Sophia Point and local schools to work together. We are excited for partnerships to come!
Powering the new Centre
In keeping with our aim to operate a sustainable site we made the decision that the new facilities on site will be 100% solar powered. We therefore partnered with Guyanese providers Farfan & Mendes to install a 5.75kW solar power system to run the main research centre building. This will provide free, environmentally friendly power to power our lights, refrigeration, charging ports, water pump and any equipment required by visitors on site. The south facing panels and large battery bank have been designed to cater for our future needs and should provide reliable power for years to come.
Building Sophia Point
Eight months worth of building in one minute. Completed in March, our research centre is now fully open and hosting students and we are delighted with the result. Check out the time lapse below!
