Mélanie Élouise Bennet is a PhD student at the University of East Anglia studying the potential toxicity of biochar from the university's combined heat and power gasification unit on plant growth. As chairman of the UEA Gardening Group, she hopes to develop biodiversity conservation and biochar trials on the university's new campus allotment site. Previously as an undergraduate, she started an allotment project at a local infant school that provided learning opportunities and received funding and awards to expand into additional green spaces.