Melanie Jans-Singh is finishing her PhD in Engineering at the University of Cambridge. A civil engineer interested in how to integrate nature with infrastructure, she researches how to optimise urban farming to reuse waste resources in cities. From monitoring a hydroponic farm in a tunnel to developing a model of a rooftop greenhouse, she found that there are plenty of unused spaces that could benefit from greenhouses in cities to grow crops with less energy than conventional greenhouses.
Her interest in nature and infrastructure reaches beyond her work: in her free time she can often be found either reading about the news cosy inside a building, or enjoying nature in all weather on a bike or in running or climbing shoes.