Toby’s background is in landscape history and archaeology, where his research has focused on experiences of weather and the management of trees across the post-medieval landscapes of Britain. More recently, Toby has garnered extensive experience of interdisciplinary working, particularly spanning heritage, archaeology, design and human-computer interaction, and a strong commitment to public engagement. Toby taught Cultural Heritage Management and aspects of archaeology for several years at the University of Sheffield; at the University of York, he delivered the Discovering England’s Burial Spaces (DEBS) project, developing tools and resources for community-led archaeological surveys of graveyard monuments; and at the University of East Anglia, he co-authored Trees in England: Management and Disease Since 1600, published by University of Hertfordshire Press. 

Toby is a Researcher Co-I on the Branching Out project, his role is to develop computer vision approaches for identifying trees within historical maps and documents in order to rapidly plot the development of urban treescapes over the past 150 years. His contributions to the project are also informed by his work at Sheffield City Council as part of their Community Forestry team, where he plants trees with local communities and work with colleagues from the University of Sheffield on other urban tree research projects.