text: Melanie Jane Leng  is a Professor of Isotope Geosciences at the University of Nottingham working on isotopes, palaeoclimate and geochemistry. She also serves as the Chief Scientist for Environmental Change Adaptation and Resilience at the British Geological Survey and Director of the Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. For many years (till 2019) she has been the UK convenor and representative of the UK geoscience community on the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.